If You Want What They Had, Learn How it Came | Pastor Paul McGee

Hallelujah, as far as the east is from the West, Amen.

You'll take them from us and you can't measure that.

Amen. We're thankful tonight for a

Lord that redeems and for a Lord that forgives, a man that makes

all things new, Amen. We're appreciative tonight for.

Good to see each one of you, man.

So good to see different ones, Amen.

Here, Sister Adams, good to see you.

Last time I seen you, you were laying in a hospital bed.

So it's good to see you sitting on a Pew rather than in that

state, Amen. We're grateful tonight for you,

Amen, and the kids and Tamara, It's good to see you tonight

sitting there beside Amber's. Such a great, great privilege to

have you in the House of Lord Amen, with us this evening.

Grateful and thankful for that, Amen as well.

Hallelujah. We're going to be turning to the

book of Second Chronicles. I know I like to preach from

places that that's in the Bible, Amen, Second Chronicles, Amen.

Tonight, Hallelujah. I was, I told a few people I

was, I was preparing for bed last night, wanted something to

drink, so I thought I'd have some hot cocoa.

Brother Earl Romanly drink, but sometimes I I put instant coffee

in my cocoa and most of you know that I have a little caffeine

sensitivity. So it's that night and I'm doing

it and I'm kind of thinking back and forth whether I should and

my wife says. Go on, live it up.

What she should have said was stay up because that's what

happened. Still like 2-30 something.

I was still awake. I listened to podcasts, I

listened to somebody preach to me.

I, you know, so whatever. Tonight, if I have caught hot

cocoa, it'll be decaffeinated. All right?

Amen. The second Chronicles chapter #7

I want to read just a few verses of Scripture there.

The Bible says now when Solomon had made an end of praying.

Now it's important if you were to read chapter #6 his prayer

starts about verse #12 for about 3132 verses he's been doing just

that. And he had made an end to

praying. The fire came down from heaven

and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices and the glory

of the Lord filled the house. And the priest could not enter

into the House of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord

had filled the Lord's house. And all the children of Israel

saw how the fire came down the glory of the Lord upon the

house. They bowed themselves with their

faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped.

And praise the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy

endureth forever after he made the end of praying.

The Bible says in verse #2 that that glory filled the house, and

it tells us in verse #3 children of Israel took note of how the

fire came down. Just for a little bit tonight,

when the minister simply this If you want what they had, learn

how it came. If you want what they have,

learn how it came, Amen. Can we go to the Lord in prayer

right here before a week of prayer, Amen.

Here at the church? Father, we thank you Jesus

today. God, for your spirit, your

power. God, you don't disappoint.

Lord, you're always on time, God, and you're mindful.

Lord of us, I pray, O God, let there be a fresh wind.

Lord Jesus of that glory cloud. Lord, that would fill this

place. We already Lord, testify God to

fill in your presence, but God let it engulf us.

Lord, before we leave this place tonight will not fail to thank

you and praise you God for what you accomplished in this place.

In the name of Jesus, I pray Hallelujah in the church say

Amen, Amen. You may be seated tonight in

Jesus name, in Jesus name. I think it's important tonight

to understand that the Book of Chronicles is interesting in the

audience that it was meant for and the people that it was

really written to, because there's a lot of retelling of

stories that are in the Book of Chronicles and events that had

already taken place. And it happened.

The Book of Chronicles was not written for people.

That was right in the middle, if you will, of experiencing some

grand revival and was on the apex, if you will, of their

life. It was written for a people that

were during the mode of time really of recovery in their

life. They, they were not, they were

not aimed the words of Chronicles were not aimed at a a

generation that we're witnessing in the moment that they heard

these words. We're not witnessing fire fall

from heaven. They we're not witnessing the

collapsing of priests under some glory cloud that had entered

into a Tabernacle or a sanctuary.

Amen. As a matter of fact, this was

written to a generation that that that knew maybe what fire

had fell in the past, but they were now looking for that fire

to fall. Now they were people that some

of them had never seen the fire fall.

The only thing that they had to go off of was the stories, many

of them of their grandparents, people that were kin to them.

Chronicles was written for a people who knew stories and and

the records had been preserved for them.

They could go back to the archives and they could read

through there of what occurred and what happened and they could

rehearse history in each other's ears.

But many of them didn't even personally remember the glory a

man that was described in those stories.

And for sure, some of them that had been in that time just had a

faded memory of what once was. These people that the book of

Chronicles, and this is important tonight, these people

that the book of Chronicles is written to are those that had

lived through the exile. It's those that had lived

through 70 years of captivity and and they're just now been

home for a little bit and their feet is just now touched the

dust, Amen, of Jerusalem again. And so these are people that are

hearing their history and their heritage that they've been

separated from for some 70 years of their life.

And whenever they left, they understand now that that they

lost more than land. They're they understand that

they lost a rhythm of life, a, a, a pattern of going to the

Tabernacle, a pattern of offering up sacrifices, a

pattern of doing some things in and around about the city of

Jerusalem. Many of them, because Jerusalem

was in ruins, many of them had lost a sense of identity of who

they were, what they were connected with.

They lost a sense of their confidence in any that they had

in their mind. They had lost in their

generation. Now they're looking backward.

Chronicles is looking backward. All of that's already taken

place and happened. And so they're looking back at a

loss of some of the visible signs of that.

Once assured them that God was among them and God was with

them, and God heard their voice and God heard their prayer.

Hey, man, the exile, the exile. But they were taken away into

it. It did not come because God was

unfaithful to them, but it came because a people had grown

unfaithful to God. They, they, they had become

distracted by other things. They chased other gods.

They, they had other longings and desires, and they were

fulfilling those desires and those longings and that

seemingly forgot God. As a matter of fact, the Bible

tells us in in the Word that long before Israel was ever

taken away from Jerusalem geographically, that they had

already wandered spiritually. Amen.

In their their own minds and in their own hearts, these people

had come to a place where they ignored God.

They they replaced God with their pursuit of other things.

They chased lesser loves, if you will, than the king of glory.

And whenever they went to Babylon, Babylon really wasn't

the beginning of their problem, Amen.

It was the consequence of their problem.

And yet the Bible says that God brought these people that had

forsaken him, ignored him, chased other things.

He brought them back home. And so now they have returned

home to Jerusalem and there's a sense of resolve and there's a

sense of expectation for those that had known what it once was,

that perhaps it will be what it once was.

And so they rebuild the altar and they rebuild the walls and

they set the gates as in the book of Nehemiah, back upon

their their hinges in their place.

And they even build a temple and they try a man to plod along and

resume with their worship. And they're bringing sacrifices

into the House of the Lord. And there's some mutterings of

prayer that take place among them.

And it has the appearance that everything is restored on the

surface. You know, the temples where it

needs to be, the furnishings that they still have is where it

needs to be. But if they were going to be

honest with themselves and they were to compare with what they

once had, they would have to say to one another.

It just seemed like something was still missing.

It's during this time of their return home that Haggai the

prophet, he writes those words found in Haggai 2 and three and

says, who is left among you that saw this house in her first

glory? And how do you see it now?

Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

He's speaking to a people that went whenever the foundation of

this new temple is built. The footprint of this new

temple, it has a larger footprint, but it seems to have

a smaller meaning to the people that are there here.

They're entering this place to worship, but the worship just

seems a little quieter, not as boisterous as it once was it.

They have a moment here. Amen.

But that moment seems to lack the weight of what they once had

in the past. Because you got to understand at

the building building of this new temple, they have no ark of

the Covenant. Now that that's long gone, that

has disappeared, that's taken away.

There's not been a visible Brother Fred Cloud that's come

down and filled this temple. There is not been fire fall from

heaven to fill the temple of the exile generation after they

returned home. That very Ark of the covenant,

that thing that years ago that was just revered as the very

presence of God, man, it was no longer, it never returned.

Amen to their temple after the exile.

And so there's a lot, ladies and gentlemen, some unspoken

questions in the minds of those that had been exposed to that

and in the minds of those that never knew that they got to be

asking some questions. Is God still with us the way

that he used to be with us? Is God still around?

Has his glory? Is it gone forever?

Or what can we do to somehow secure a former time, a former

glory, and a former place? How can we claim what

generations our grandparents told us about?

How can we have that still within the clutches of our

hands? Someone say, man.

Ladies and gentlemen, I tell you tonight that these questions are

not confined to ancient Israel, but they are painfully modern as

well. There are many churchgoers

today, Amen, that know the language of that glory that has

been spoken to them by their parents and their grandparents.

But they've not always experienced the glory.

All they've had is a story, Amen, a telling, an archive,

something that someone can relate unto them.

There are believers today, and I'm not preaching down today,

but there are believers today who love God sincerely, and they

worship God faithfully, Amen. And they serve God every way

that they know how to serve God. Yet there's a quiet wonder

inside of their spirit. Have we lost something?

Have we lost ground? Is our feet not where our feet

need to be? I've heard the stories, Amen.

If things take place, I've heard the testimonies of all being

packed. I've heard the stories of prayer

meetings that lasted all night, of church services that went to

11:00 at night, people being carried out the sanctuary

speaking in other tongues. I've heard moments of God's

presence being so thick in a place you could cut it with a

knife. They have to remember, Amen.

Just the stories. But they have none of those

stories personally. They know them second handed.

Now we send services and someone might wonder, well, it feels a

little smaller. It's, it's just a little

quieter. It's just just a little less

impressive than what I had known.

And they're, they're wondering, is something been lost and can

it be recovered? Work with me here just a little

bit because they had their temple, they had their building,

it was standing. Can I preach for a little bit?

They had their function and furnishings and their programs,

but they still had no fire. I'm preaching to the modern day

church. Today.

We have bigger buildings than we ever had in Pentecost in the

entirety of the world, and we have more programs than there's

ever been. But if we have buildings and

programs and no fire, then we are suffering an experience.

Someone say, man, no fire, they didn't see it.

No cloud, they didn't see it. Hey, man, that that divine

nearness of God, it just felt diminished to them.

And so here's this post XL community that's in that place.

And many times even today, churchgoers find themselves in a

similar place. They come back, Brother Fred,

from a season of compromise. They come back from a season and

being distracted. Everything else had their focus,

dryness in their spirit, failure.

So they're trying to think, We got to, we got to rebuild some

habits. We got to.

We got to return. To some things and.

We got to try. Again, but they're in the

gnawing questioning of their mind.

It is, but can we ever get back there, ladies and gentlemen?

That's why the Book of Chronicles exists.

You read through the pages of Chronicles and.

It's like Deja vu, isn't it? It's like I'm reading Kings and

Samuel all over again. I'm reading about David and I'm

bringing about Solomon and I'm reading about the northern

Kingdom, the southern Kingdom. I'm reading about kings that are

good and kings that are bad. Seems like a repetition all over

again, but Samuel and Kings was really written for the purpose

of telling the people why the judgement was going to come.

But Chronicles is telling us that there's hope after the

judgement came, there's hope after exile.

It's the same stories, Brother Fred, but it's to a different

audience. It's an audience that had once

left and now are coming back, trying to find their way.

That's who Chronicles is written to.

The book makes clear you can read of it in Second Chronicles

36. It makes clear in verses 22 and

23 that this book of Chronicles was written after the Babylonian

captivity. And so that means the original

readers and audience of this book were Jews who had been back

in Jerusalem for almost a century, for almost 100 years,

people that had lived through the rebuilding Amen of

Nehemiah's era. They're no longer enslaved.

They're no longer under the cruel hand of Babylon, but

they're still on the journey. They're still on the search.

They're no longer exiles, but they're still asking some

questions in their hearts and their minds.

I declare to you tonight. One scholar even said that the

returned exiles felt a strong desire to revive as much as

possible the old status quo of the community that they once

had. Another one said that they tried

to bolster their hopes. Amen.

To try to bring back a remembrance of the old glory

that they had a former days. In other words, Chronicles was

written for a people who knew what used to be, but we're

afraid that it would never be again.

That's why when we read Chronicles, there's some things

that Chronicles leaves out that Kings and Samuel had.

Because the purpose is trying to steer up into the minds of the

audience how what they are looking for is missing, how that

all came to begin with. That's the reason why you see

Chronicles as emphasizing the temple so heavily.

That's the reason why you read in Chronicles like first

Chronicles 10 through 19. It's talking about the

preparation for the temple Amen. The the preparation that David

made that he never seen the temple but he prepared for.

That's the reason why in Chronicles you read here Solomon

superintending the construction of the temple Amen.

In the scripture dedicating the temple Amen, kings are

evaluated. The rest Amen of Chronicles

kings are evaluated and again, it's history.

But how they respond, or how they don't respond to the, the

temple, the Chronicles audience needed to understand, Amen, that

there are some things that must be in place, Amen, to experience

that cloud in that fire. Because now again, they're

living in a generation. They have no ark, no fire, no

cloud. They don't even have a king.

They don't have a king. There's not a David, there's not

a Solomon, there's not a Zedekiah.

They're living under the the auspices of prophets.

Amen. There is no king.

And so the unavoidable question of their generation.

Is what do we still have access to?

If I don't have all of this, what do I have access to?

Folks, the answer is, and I'm teeing up the ball for this

week, just stay with me here for a bit.

The answer is they couldn't control not having an arc, it

seems like. It's not as though they could

just yell fire come down. It's not as though they could

just put a man in kingship of the David Kingdom, no?

But what they still had access to was prayer.

Just I want to take you just on a little journey I'm trying of

the importance of this to the children of Israel through their

history of how and why and when glory and fire and cloud showed

up in their history. I'm not going to if someone get

nervous about me preaching. Long, OK, Hey, man, but.

Whenever you see them through their wilderness journeys.

Hey man, having left Egypt trying to get to their promised

land through their wilderness journeys, God spoke to them and

he says I'm going to be with. You as a.

Matter of fact, I'm going to lead you.

How so, Lord? He told them in Exodus 13, he

said there will be a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of

fire by night. That pillar of cloud by day.

As you're travelling through the day, that cloud will be, if you

will, a covering to you it will be seemingly Amen to to relieve

the heat, if you will, from the sun.

But when night time falls, it will be a pillar of fire by

night. It'll give you warmth along that

desert floor. You're going to see that light

of the fire, and you're going to see that cloud.

These were not just imaginary images of the presence of God.

These were visible images of the presence of God.

And when the cloud moved, the people moved.

And when the fire rested, the people rested.

God was among them. He was leading them and He was

directing them. And the Bible says when that

Tabernacle in the wilderness was finished and all of its

construction in Exodus 40, the Bible says that there was a

cloud that covered it, and the glory of the Lord filled that

house. And that night the fire rested

upon it, and there was a message clear for Israel.

God is dwelling among you. They saw it.

They witnessed it with their very own eyes.

The Bible says in the book of Leviticus chapter #9 that Moses

and Aaron would even come out and bless the people.

We think of blessing the people. Some little, you know, closing

word upon the people know a blessing is a prayer.

They came out and blessed the people.

It was an act of prayer over the people.

And the Bible tells us in Exodus 9, verse 23, that immediately

Exodus 9:23

after that blessing, that prayer, that the glory of the

Lord appeared and fire came out from before the Lord.

And it assume the offering on the altar because the prayer as

it were there preceded the fire and it preceded the glory.

And then when we turn to where we've been reading in the Book

of Chronicles, the pattern is unchanged.

In the Temple of Solomon, the Bible says in chapters 3 and

four, there is this completion of the temple.

Every precise detail has been finished.

Every measurement has been recorded.

All the furnishings are accounted for.

Nothing seems to be missing except for the priests that's

carrying the last piece of furniture, the Ark of the

covenant, for a priest got that upon their shoulders.

They're ushering that ark in its proper place, the holies of

holies, and the Bible says when they place it there that a cloud

fills the house so powerfully that the priest could not stand

to minister. The ark in its proper place

brought a glory cloud. But in 2nd Chronicle 6,

Solomon's taken a. Long time praying son.

He is praying. And praying and praying.

And at the beginning of our attacks, he finally finished

praying. And please don't hear me

tonight. Solomon is praying publicly, not

privately. He's praying audibly, not

silently. He's praying extensively, not

preaching, not briefly. You read, you go home tonight,

your homework, go home, read Second Chronicles chapter #6 you

want to read what Solomon's praying about?

He's praying about forgiveness. So he's praying about

repentance. He's praying about God.

If there's a drought and we turn our face toward this place and

pray, you will hear us. He's praying about defeat, that

when the enemies would conquer us and overcome us, and we, we

need to go to war. It won't be our shield or our

sword, But if we go to prayer, he's praying.

Can I tell you that He's even praying about the captivity that

they were going to go through? You read in verses 36 and 39.

He says, God, if the enemy would come and drag us away from this

land and this place, but if your people even in that situation

would lift up their voice and pray.

He prayed about national sin. He prayed about personal sin.

This is included in Chronicles, and God's included as though God

knows that one day there'll be a people reading these words,

living without the fire and living without the cloud.

And yet when Solomon, this is history.

This is history that somebody in that generation coming through

the exile needs to hear. Yet when Solomon finished that

32 verse prayer, he ended his prayer.

He finishes it that then the fire fell from heaven and there

was a cloud of glory that filled this temple again, so much so

that the priest could not even enter the building to minister.

Please, I want to note something, just want to know

something for us tonight. Solomon finished praying.

He didn't quit praying. Someone's not hearing me right

now. I think some of us pray and

quit, but we don't pray and finish.

He finished praying. Look what happens whenever the

ark of God, God in his proper place, cloud filled it, whenever

prayer had its proper praise. Fire filled it.

What we going to do in the post exile generation?

Because when you have cloud, when you have fire, there are

two manifestations. It's what God let his people

with two manifestations that had the same reality that God was

among his people. Hey man, he's telling us that

even in the temple, God's telling us when you make room

for me. When you make roof for me, the

clouds going to show up and the fire's going to fall.

When you make what's happened, though, it went.

From a pillar of cloud by day to fire by night that led them.

Now they're in a different relationship and era of time

with God. Amen.

In Solomon's day, they're not following the cloud.

They're not following Amen fire at this moment.

They're inviting the cloud. They're inviting the fire.

Someone say man, I got to hurry. So the chronicle the.

Chronicler draws the attention of the people.

I believe us. I believe those that had went

through the exile. There's a single phrase that I

think that will matter deeply to them and to us in verse #3 And I

pointed out to you when we started and.

When all the children of Israel saw everybody say how?

How the fire came down. What are you saying?

I'm telling you tonight, folks, they weren't just there

witnessing this event, but the children of Israel were, were

discerning the pattern that's happening here.

They, they weren't just seeing that fire came down, but they

saw how it came down. In other words, they're they're

picking up on a sequence here. They're picking up on a cause

and effect. God's, God's covenant, his ark

got in a place. We made room for God.

The cloud came. We put God in his place through

prayer, and the fire came. And so they begin to connect.

There's a connection, A cause and effect, that the fire came

and it's connected then to the prayer that was prayed.

They're starting to make a connection.

It's a realization that the generation of exiles needed

because listen. Brother Fred, they don't have an

ark, They don't have an ark to put in it's place, but they

still have the ability to have prayer.

That's good. The furnishing of that old box

of gold. They don't have a hand on it,

but they still can have a hand on prayer.

Nobody listen to this pastor tonight.

Nobody can take your prayer. Nobody can take your prayer

life. It cannot disappear unless you

issue it away. No.

No, nobody, no, no. Someone say hey man.

Nobody, nobody can take that. The arcs gone, it can't be

replaced, but prayer, it's still function the same way.

What did that mean then for these exiles?

No fire and have no cloud. It means hope is not lost to

them because they still have the ability to pray.

That's the reason. Listen to me tonight, folks.

That's the reason. Later in 2nd Chronicle 7 and

verse 14, you read these words. These are not in Samuel's book

and these are not in King's book, but the Chronicle.

The chronicler had to include them in this space for people

who have been exiled. That is wondering, can we have

the? Appearance that generations ago

Hack and the Chronicle recorded what God said.

He said If my people, which are called by my name, will humble

themselves and pray, then I'll hear from Helen.

I'll heal their land. You know what he's telling them

to the pen of history. He's telling them if you want

what they got, you got to learn how it came.

And it came by prayer. If my people will pray, you'll

have what they had. If my.

You'll see that in Kings God spoken, but it wasn't recorded

there, it's recorded in Chronicles.

Because people are going to be frustrated with the experience

they had when they got back. Wanted to know.

How do we get back? There, it's not a, it's not a

sentiment, Brother Mason. It's an instruction without

saying you don't have the ark, you don't have the king, but you

still have access to me through prayer.

I know you're still tending to some of the bruising and the

woundings of your captivity, and you feel long forsaken,

forgotten. Part of that's your fault.

And why you're crying over what the glory of the Second Temple

looks like. If you can just get re

acquainted with prayer, the glory of this ladder house will

be greater than the glory I never realized.

Folks. This is too common for

everybody. Everybody here knows how to

pray. Has the greatest prayer life

there ever was but I'm here to tell you tonight I know the

adversary and there's one thing that he fights everybody in this

building on tooth and nail including the one behind this is

about your personal time and making room for God every day

and the reason why is because he knows the efficiency and the

effectiveness of it in this world and in the Kingdom beyond

the. Sky Amen in the world that is

spiritual. You want to know why he doesn't

want you to pray? Because he doesn't want your

lost family to be saved. You want to know why he doesn't

want you to pray. He doesn't want those in the

hospital to come out with a. A good report.

You want to know why he doesn't want you to pray?

He wants your family to fall apart.

You want to know why he doesn't want you to pray?

Because when you pray, you join in partnership of power of a

yes. Because he knows if they pray,

the fire will fall if they pray, the cloud will enter the house

If they pray. Oh.

Yes, someone say, man, I'm telling you this tonight because

I'm telling you tonight what we need access to this week.

There's not a bigger building. Fresh paint colors or the finest

carpet. What we need access to this

week, we all have access to. We're not sending mental mouth

over here and saying, well, if we had what that church over

there had concerning all of the dimensions and fineries and

fabrics and all that stuff's OK if you have the ability to do

it. But listen, if you have none of

that, but you have prayer, the thing fire that falls over there

will fall here. No.

Just share with a minute and this is again for exercise.

You got it for me since last year, starting March, this is

Thursday night prayer meeting around the church.

And this was based upon the average attendance of the year

2024. This is the prayer.

How many, what the percent of FAC shows up for Thursday night

prayer each Thursday? That's the graph.

If you can't read it, 39 percent, 35 percent, 35 percent,

41 percent, 31 percent, 292935414531 percent, 31%, What

do you say? And I think that's tremendous,

folks. Don't get me wrong.

I think that's tremendous. But I think we can bump it up in

2026. We'll bump it up.

But Brother James, I'm not sitting around.

How do we get back to I know how to get there.

I'm not sitting around. We're not sitting around having

a committee meeting trying to figure it out.

The committee meetings already been had with the word.

It's totus whenever people pray, and there's tongues and

interpretation in the prayer room when people pray.

And people's dancing and shouting in the prayer room.

Oh, Brother McGee, that was then.

No, it don't have to be when people pray and they receive the

Holy Ghost in the prayer. Room, Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, because when you finish, the fire falls.

When you finish the glory, cloud enters.

I'm here to tell you today we are living in a horrid

generation. And we don't need to be living

with less glory. We need to be living with more

glory. We don't need to be living with

a artificial fake fire. We need to be living with the

Holy Ghost and fire. We if we want what they had, we

got to learn. How it came?

Yes. Don't you think Elijah learned

this on a mount called Carmel of all places?

On that mount called Carmel was not a temple unto God.

On that mount called Carmel was no ark of the covenant unto God.

Matter of fact, on that, that mount called Carmel, there was a

lot of Pagan and hedonistic things going on.

But a man uttered a prayer, and the word was spoken.

The God that answers by fire, let him be God.

He was looking for fire, so he went to prayer.

Can you hear me? He was looking for fire.

He knew the answer. I'm going to go to prayer.

And there were there where there was no temple, no altar, none of

that happening where a man started praying.

The fire fell. It licked up the water that was

poured on the sacrifice. It licked up the sacrifice.

It licked up the wood. It licked up the water that was

in the through around about the altar.

All because one man said, you know what, I've had enough of

this. I'm going to start doing some

praying. And there was a whole generation

of people, a false prophets, 400 prophets of the Grove, 450 of

the bell, that were defeated in one prayer meeting.

Can I just Old Testament thing? It's our roots.

It's our roots. Everybody wants to talk to me.

I've had someone in the community one time, they're

doing some of the historical things of different

denominations and churches and said, Pastor McGee, you might

want to get on right, a little bit of that, put it in our

history Uptown. He says, you know, you could,

you guys can probably go back, you know, to Topeka, KS and you

know, and go back maybe over to Azusa Street.

I said, no, Sir. I said, we can go further than

that. I said we go back further than

Azusa, We go back further than nineteen O 3 and 19 O2.

We go further back than nineteen O 6.

I said we go all back to the upper.

Room. You can take us all the way

back, and in that upper room we're 120 Jesus's own mother

Mary, some of the disciples, and for seven to 10 days.

What are they doing? They are praying, and that's

chapter #2 and verse #1 tells us.

And suddenly there was a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty

wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting,

and there appeared unto them cloven tongues.

Like cast fire and it felt, what are you saying, honey?

We were born in the fire. We're maintained by the fire.

And I plan on exiting this place someday by fire and the fire

comes by prayer. If you want what they had, learn

how they came to them. Hey man, all these ladies have

been doing spiritual talking about spiritual warfare in the

back. Listen, there's not one devil

afraid somebody that doesn't pray.

The devil doesn't care about Paul Mcgee's name Whenever Paul

McGee isn't submitted in prayer to God.

There are no flesh that could ever handle any devil.

Did you get a man that submitted to God in prayer and a man that

knows how to use the name of God in prayer?

The devil believes in one God and even trembles so.

What would happen exponentially if I prayed?

Brother Fred prayed this week, and then Brother Fred prayed and

Sister Angie prayed this week. And as she's praying, Brother

Tat's praying this week. And as he's praying over here,

Erica was praying this week. And as she was praying, Sister

Rhonda and Mike was praying this week.

And as they were praying, the Trouts were praying this week.

Honey, you can get in the Army together.

That's in rank with the. Power of God.

There's not a devil in hell and quite a perimeter around here

because the fire is. The fire will be falling and the

cloud will be pervasive. Oh yes, you don't.

Care, am I doing OK? Just got to get back to it.

Just get back to it. But I got all this going on.

It's OK. It's all right.

Don't try to fix it. Just get back to praying.

Praying. We'll fix it.

And if it don't, it'll give you the willpower to withstand it.

Listen, I'm not using prayer as a Band-Aid tonight.

And a prayer, just no, no, no. But I'm telling you there is

power in it. And don't knock it till you

tried it. Don't knock till you engaged

with it. You hear me?

We were just talking about the other night attacking Rebecca.

My wife and I was power attorney for someone.

Things were just getting ugly. Wasn't a family member of ours.

We were they were just chosen to be a power attorney for someone.

Look like we was going to have to get guardianship, going to

have to go to court. Didn't really want to do that.

That's kind of but twitch in between.

Didn't know what to do, want to do what was right.

And I've been over my office that morning and been praying.

Let's go to court that day. I've been praying.

I picked up my Bible. Two things go very good

together. Prayer in your Bible.

I was praying that year. I was reading the message

version of the Bible. I picked it up.

I believe it was in the book of name.

And the first words that I read for my daily reading that was

set up for that day was these words.

Take your stand in court. You can call back coincidence

and you call it well. Isn't that neat?

I'm telling you that when you pray, fire falls.

We went to that court that day with no one else showing us up,

no one else showing up except us.

Now you can just say, oh, you know, the plan has just found a

lament for you that day. Good karma?

No Good God. Well, two years ago when we were

evangelizing and preaching a man up in the, the, the, the the

Pennsylvania area, my wife and I was staying with a couple from

that church and we were in the upstairs.

And I can't remember if you were pregnant or not at Canada.

It doesn't really Amen. If it was, it gets all foggy.

Amen. But none the less, we were there

and you had to go downstairs to to in order to get the comfort

station. All right.

And and and it was during the dead of night and my wife had

went downstairs and and she came back up.

I went downstairs, came back up. She started feeling sick and it

just almost felt we're in this room unbeknown to us, and it

felt like something just heavy laid across both of us.

That old song came to mind, that Sister Roberta used to sing.

One night where I was sleeping, I feel a presence in my room.

I looked up at the end of my bed and there stood Mr. Gloom.

He tried to put his spirit on me, his fear on me.

What's it say? But I heard him talk to weep.

I spoke the name of Jesus and I went right.

Back to sleep, we felt that thing just come up over on top

of us. I grabbed her hand, she grabbed

mine, and we begin to pray in the name of Jesus.

And it wasn't long that the indentation on that blanket

arose and got up and fled. Folks that doesn't.

Happen Amen. Unless you have a little talk

with Jesus. But even furthermore, you need a

relationship. In that talk you need.

Hear me, we want the emergency kit prayer.

Break the glass, get out the axe.

We're going to use it today. But what you need is a

relationship with God. Because when you have a

relationship with God and you call on Him, you don't have to

worry about reintroducing yourself, let's say.

Well Lord, I know it's been 6 months, but I'm in the fix right

here and I really need some help right now.

Just in case you forgot, my name's Paul McGee and I live at

732 Vicklin St. and I got two kids, boy and a girl, and I'm

trying to get all out because I need some help.

Honey, whenever you have a practice of prayer, you just say

it's me, Lord you. See where I'm at?

We're doing OK. Oh man, I've been up here for a

while, haven't I? Praise God what I learned from

Scripture. The pattern never changes.

Prayer is always the primer for the fire.

For the cloud, prayer is always the primer.

Folks, we could do some prayer this week and yes, I'll have

some prayer guides as far As for each focus.

And I know how it is because those prayer guides you

typically just the front and the back and sometimes maybe you

just read right through that. I'll tell you tonight how I

tried to approach those guides. Those guides are just like an

outline to inspire my thoughts whenever I'm reading about the

First Apostolic Church on Wednesday and I read about the

elders and the widows, the names of Angie Craig and Margaret

Garrett and Joella Jessup. And their health.

Issues come to the tip of my tongue.

I'm not just saying touch the elders, but I'm talking about

Sister Angie's Craig's COPD, who has been house ridden for years

now, hardly ever leave in her home, but she's a Apostolic

warrior on Facebook and she's an encourager of souls.

I use that as an outline for my prayers.

Brother Tag showed up in our in our Connect group here the other

night. He brought a few of the old

spiritual warfare books. We Bishop passed them out a year

ago and Tag had a few of them. Some people took them.

I bought about 25 this past week.

Thought he made mention of it was a great idea tag.

He meant we'll have prayer guides, but we'll have these out

here too. If you want 1, you can take one.

It's in there praying the armor of God, praying the Lord's

Prayer, binding and losing spiritual things all just right

here. Again, if you just use it as a

guide. Whenever I start to read, don't

be on the defense, but on the offense, invade the devil's

territory, I stop and I'm like devil, we've had enough.

There's no weapon. I start quoting scripture.

There's no weapon formed against us as a church, as an individual

that shall prosper. This is our heritage.

When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord

will raise up a standard against you.

Greater is he that's within me than he that's within the world.

I cast a bloodline on this church.

I cast a bloodline on these families.

I cast I. Use it as an outline.

You want to pray for FAC. You write down everybody's name

in the church. Honey, you start praying for

everybody name, new or old in this church.

And you pause and you pray about what you do know, and maybe

things you sense in the Spirit. That you don't know.

You know what happens in prayer. You don't talk to God, you don't

just talk to God, but as you as you go, you'll find out he'll

start talking to you. That's.

The reason why, however long ago when you Mother Mason was having

one of his meniere deals, I was praying that morning.

Spirit of intercession hit this little boy.

Groanings that could not be uttered.

I'm telling you, I couldn't put words together in English, but I

could pray in the Spirit and I could cry.

He was on my mind. While all of that was taking

place. I left that place of prayer,

started walking into the kitchen, and honey, it just hit

me like a brick. I went down, up on the seat and

started all over again. And Brother Mason came out of

that in a decent QuickTime. I checked with Sister Roberta in

a decent quick amount. What's going on?

I'm saying when you get in touch with God, hey man, He can

entrust things with you because he know he's not going to have.

To wait a week until you do something about it.

You'll do it then you'll do it the next day.

You'll do it the day after. Stand with us, stand with us.

I don't want to. I'm throwing glasses around.

I break readers all the time. Hallelujah.

I just can't do that. My mind is all deranged and I

just got so many thoughts. He'll keep them in perfect

peace. Whose minds has stayed on him?

You got mind problems? Pray.

Well, it seems like you're just. Preaching a real.

Simple thing that if we just pray some of these matters just

take care of. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm

saying. That's that, that's it.

That's it. Man, I feel the Holy Ghost right

here. So the Chronicle, the Chronicle

is writing for a generation that was going to need to hear that

if you want the. Glory that you heard.

About and what some of you maybe even experienced 7 plus years

ago, then you got to make room for God and you don't have an

altar or you don't have an art to do that with, but you can do

it through and by your prayers. There might be some sitting

here. And I said, yeah, in some

respects of certain things in my spiritual life, I feel like I've

lost everything, feel like the fire is gone.

I don't even have a burning ember.

The glory has faded by the McGee in my life.

I go through the ritual and the calisthenics of coming to church

and the motions of raising hands.

You hear me tonight, ladies and gentlemen, everything that you

may feel that. You are without a.

Sin, you never have to be without prayer.

Someone say that's up to me. It's up to me.

Don't get me wrong, I understand.

I know the path, I know the battle, I know the discipline.

I know the sundry of things that call for our attention, our life

that we need to do, need to look after, understand all of that.

But if you'll finish praying rather than quit praying, if

you'll finish praying, it's going to be a little

enlightenment that starts to come going to sense a little

fire, going to sense a little cloud, the glories going to fill

the house. So my challenge to you tonight,

and I know my wife said it and and it's good.

I, I'd rather you come every night and spend some time than

spend no time. But I challenge you this week

that when you're here and you feel like you're done, stay just

a little longer. When you finish the focus prayer

sheet for the evangelist, grab a spiritual warfare book and say,

I'm not finished yet. Sometimes I see Kenny just, I

think sometimes this is just my imagination.

OK, Raven, there's the devil. He's listening in 5432.

They're done already. Oh.

The. Things I got planned for them

today, I'm going to play with their family.

I'm going to meddle in their job.

I want him to sit over there and go 54321 and be like, what?

What? They're still going. 54321 What?

What, They're still talking to him?

54321. What they're praying over their

family 54321 What they're praying for new converts 54321.

What they're praying for those that have a terminal illness

54321 What they're praying for their church.

If you want what they had, learn how it came.

The altar is open tonight, folks.

We would do good just to spend a little season before we exit

this place saying I. Want the fire and I want the.

Cloud. So I'm going to follow the

prescription of Scripture that prayer has always been the

primer for the fire. Prayer has always been the

primer for the cloud. And I'm going to say by my

prayer, God, you belong. Here, God, you belong here.