What the Spirit Is Doing in the Church

The following is a pre-recorded program. In the midst of seeming chaos, what is God doing in the midst of the Church? It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire. And now here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown.

Hey friends, this is Michael Brown. Always my delight to be with you. If you're listening or watching live, I should be ministering right now in Mexico City at a large youth gathering, so I'm not taking calls today. This is a pre-recorded broadcast. But Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of this week, coinciding with my ministry time and travel time in and out of Mexico City for the special conference, we've got three specially pre-recorded shows for you. Two of them, I'm taking two into sermons that I preached recently, actually within recent weeks. Sermons that I preach that I believe will minister to you and be a blessing to you.

And then one other teaching show on a controversial subject that I wanted to bring an edifying side to. So a church that I work with, I serve as an apostolic elder, so an external elder, Mercy Culture in Fort Worth, Texas. I've been there since the inception of the Church and been a mentor to Pastor Landon for over 10 years now as he reached out to me years back after seeing me on Piers Morgan when he was doing traveling youth ministry, and we just felt it was right to connect.

So I've been so pleased to be there for him and his wife Heather and then to see the church plant and now expand to multiple campuses. And this, every year they have a strong theme that they emphasize through the year. And this year the theme was Reformation, Time for Reformation. And they were holding a reformation conference, so this is in June, holding a reformation conference and I was asked to come participate in round table discussion on Saturday and then Sunday morning to bring a message there. Well they have two services and I asked Pastor Landon, is it all right if I bring two separate messages? So one of them we already played for you, the time for reformation is now. This message we have not played and I believe it's going to be very helpful and make a lot of sense to you. So I've got an introduction here then we'll get into the message and then the rest of the segments I'll just say hello goodbye because we've got to pack in all of this message. This was immediately after announcement of the latest mind-blowing shocking scandal in the Church involving a very very well-known pastor and sexual sin from many many years ago on a serious nature came to light and to what degree was it covered up etc. Anyway it was like a bomb went off in much of that region. So here I am in Fort Worth, friends and colleagues involved with the Church and ministry that was hit by the scandal, a lot of connection between the two, so it was something it was something to address but the big question is all right on the one hand things are being exposed and there's been a purification process coming to the Church and many of those who've been hurt were victims were abused or suffered under pastor leaders and had no way out no voice there they've been finding a voice and then he realizing wow there's been a lot of stuff that's happened where people were hurt and then their hurt was compounded when they now became the guilty party they were the victims they became the guilty party so thankfully more and more voices are being heard more things are coming to life but what does it mean for your average believer and what is happening in the Church what is the spirit doing we know satan wants to discourage he wants to divide he wants to defile he wants to destroy he he wants people to think there's something wrong with god or something wrong with jesus that that his body his bride there's something wrong there so just get out and run or there is no god we know what satan wants to do in all this and satan also wants to spread gossip and bring up stuff that is rightly covered and under the blood and is dealt with properly with proper repentance and and and we know that satan wants to dredge stuff up in your own lives and accuse and defile but in the midst of all this god is at work the question is what is he doing and often what is obvious outwardly is not the truth inwardly or spiritually often what we think in our natural minds is going on is very different from what god himself is doing and yeah it's true that we've been a few weeks now without the latest nation-shaking scandal but friends things are still rocking very intensely the types of of things that have come to light the leaders who have had to step down it's been on such a level that it gets everybody on their face saying lord what's happening what are you doing and lord what do you want to do in me what needs to change in me is just sitting in my life what about our church what about our structure what about how we do ministry what lord search our hearts that's that's a right and righteous response so this message is not about throwing stones this message is not about accusing this message is not sitting with a smug self-righteousness pointing the finger at others quite the contrary the the more i hear of scandals like this the more i examine my own heart the more i get on my own face the more i seek to humble myself deeper and deeper in god's sight so we'll take you now into this message we'll play it in its entirety and uh again do it in such a way that we just weave in and out of the breaks that we have so we'll play oh i guess about six minutes a little over six minutes of the beginning of the message now and then we'll break it up into 10 12 minute segments until we get to the end here we go abba give us ears to hear what your spirit is saying speak through me to your people in jesus name amen i brought an entirely different message in the first service but i was awakened at five this morning began to write down notes that i felt were appropriate for this service especially because this is live streamed as well so everyone here everyone watching online what is the spirit doing in the church today we know when reformation comes it starts with us when change comes it starts with us what is the spirit doing in the church right now and as i'm speaking here in fort worth it's like a spiritual bomb has gone off in the the greater dfw area in recent days and people are shaking and it's part of an extended series of what feels like spiritual bombs going off and what in the world is happening i want to do my best to give some insight let's read some scripture first isaiah chapter 40 verse 1 isaiah 40 verse 1 the hebrew starts with nachamu nachamu on me yamara hehem comfort comfort my people says your god speak tenderly to jerusalem and proclaim to her the hard service has been completed that the sin has been paid for that she has received from the lord's hand double for all her sins a voice of one calling in the wilderness a voice of one calling in the wilderness prepare the way for the lord make straight in the desert a highway for our god every valley shall be raised up every mountain and hill made low the rough ground shall become level the rugged place is a plain and the glory of the lord will be revealed and all people will see it together for the mouth of the lord has spoken isaiah chapter 57 isaiah chapter 57 beginning in verse 14 isaiah 57 14 and it will be said build up build up prepare the road remove the obstacles out of the way of my people for this is what the high and exalted one says he who lives forever whose name is holy i live in a high and holy place but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite then malachi chapter 3 malachi chapter 3 where we end the end the old testament writings malachi 3 verse 1 i will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me then suddenly the lord you are seeking will come to his temple the messenger of the covenant whom you desire will come says the lord almighty but who can adore the day of his coming who can stand when he appears for he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver he will purify the levites and refine them like gold and silver then the lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness and the offerings of judah and jerusalem will be acceptable to the lord as in days gone by as in former years and then first peter chapter four first peter chapter four beginning in verse 17 first peter 4 17 for it is time for judgment to begin with god's household and if it begins with us what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of god and if it is hard for the righteous to be saved what will become of the ungodly and the sinner the sinner what is the spirit doing in the midst of the shaking that we are experiencing what is the spirit doing in the midst of what seems like scandal after scandal first we just must deal with the moment and recognize this is a time to mourn many people are deeply hurt deeply wounded disoriented wondering who can they trust wondering if god is real wondering what's really happening in the church the name of jesus is being mocked the things of the spirit are being mocked and many are in pain and it's it's fine if you go through that because it is a time to mourn and we mourn with those who mourn and we are not insensitive maybe your life is blessed maybe your church is blessed maybe things are looking great in your neck of the woods but so many are hurting right now and it's it's only right that we grieve for the name of the lord that we grieve for the reproach that's come that we grieve for the disillusionment that we grieve for many who've been abused and hurt and haven't had a voice it is a time to mourn and it's right to carry that burden and sometimes you just cry like you feel like you lost a loved one one of my colleagues who was utterly shocked some months back when when things came out about a longtime friend of his a 40-year friend of his and he said to me he said mike this is the worst thing i've been through he said i feel like it's a funeral every day for two months so many are hurting right now and when that grief comes on you lift it to the lord carry that pain and recognize that yes this is a time for tears let me say secondly it's also an awe-inspiring moment we are witnessing in front of our eyes the hand of god shaking things we are witnessing god coming thanks so much for your focused attention i pray that i have your attention and that this ministry will minister to you if you're watching on youtube and you enjoy these messages click subscribe if you're watching on facebook click like and share let's spread this message with others but we've got a quick announcement from our great co-sponsor trivita and then we'll be back with you on the other side of the break to continue this message on what the spirit is doing in the church it's the line of fire with your host dr michael brown get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH here again is dr michael brown thanks friends for joining us on the special pre-recorded broadcast we now get you right back to our message from fort worth texas in june as a refiner's fire and purifying it is awe-inspiring and it is terrifying because god is holy and in ourselves we are not and god's fire does not distinguish between denominations and groups the refiner's fire comes with purification for all and it's not a it's not a time for boasting because it didn't touch me or self-righteousness no no it's a time to get low it's it's a time for humility one of the most insidious sins of all is the sin of self-righteousness it's it's not just something wrong but it's so hypocritically wrong and and it's one thing to be broken and grieve and to call things out it's another thing to mock and and jesus highlights a religious hypocritical spirit a pharisaical spirit in luke 18 with the parable of the the pharisee and the tax collector and the pharisee says i thank god i'm not like other people i thank god i'm not like this one like this one like this one i've warned people that's your attitude the fire is coming for you too you'll have your day as well you'll have your day as well it but it's a moment when we're actually seeing in front of our eyes as ugly and painful as it is as agonizing as it is as much as it is bringing reproach to the name of the lord in so many ways we are actually seeing god himself saying i am coming to clean house it is overwhelming it is intense it is something i have never seen in my life on this level and it's one of those things that gets you to search your own heart it's one of those things that gets you to to get low and to say god start the work in me you know over the years i've been called on to get involved in controversies with moral failures of leaders or things like that and people have looked to me somehow as a father or an elder but i tell you i am much more comfortable getting on my own face and repenting of my sins i am much more comfortable saying god turn the light on us and search our hearts and work in us because we want to be cleansed and you think of the holiness of god we we were singing about it last night over and over that he's holy and holy what do you say when the king walks in you just sing holy holy and and you think of the holiness of god is such that isaiah the prophet isaiah comes in the presence of god and sees his glory and here's the seraphim these fiery angelic beings chanting kadosh kadosh kadosh are the nights holy holy holy is the lord of hosts for the whole hearts for the whole earth with his glory and what does he say woe is me i'm ruined just at that moment of seeing god at that moment of seeing god woe is me i'm ruined and what does he say what's the first thing he says i'm a man of unclean lips and i told him in the midst of a people of unclean lips that's the thing that god highlighted a sexual sin is grievous and destructive and we're hearing the reports and especially when it's an abusive way is it's devastating we know that but that's not the only sin god's after right now that's the only thing he's coming to purify so much of what we say is so destructive and so ugly read james the third chapter about the fire that the tongue can cause the destruction the tongue can bring says i'm a man of unclean lips i dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the king the lord of hosts so number one it is a time to mourn number two it's also an awe-inspiring moment but we read in first peter four that judgment begins with the house of god that's a principle that's how god works he first cleans house in his own family and then goes to the world and so you have atheists and mockers saying we knew this whole thing wasn't true we knew these guys were all a bunch of frauds these christians it's a joke what they don't realize is if we're getting cleansed what's going to happen to them i don't glory in that i fear what they don't realize is that we're just the tip of the iceberg and if the righteous is scarcely saved peter writes quoting from proverbs 11 if the righteous is scarcely safe what happens to the ungodly and the sinner oh my it's a time to mourn it's an awe-inspiring moment but number three if the purge is this deep please hear me if the purge if the purifying if the refining is this deep what is god going to do afterwards if this is the preparation for the move of god how deep and powerful is the move going to be that's why i read those verses from isaiah god is clearing the way for the moving of his spirit god is making a way to have a place where he will be welcome and when his fire falls it won't destroy us when israel sinned in the book of exodus god moved outside his presence moved outside the camp and he said if i dwell with you i'll destroy you israel was so sinful that if god came in his holy presence he would have wiped them out you know you read through the torah and you read the regulations and so the priest must do this must do this must do this so they don't die it's like what i mean picture you're getting reading directions for putting some toy together for your kid make sure you plug this in here otherwise you'll die what but they're dealing with a holy god and you don't play games with a holy god and you see there is a massive amount of superficial christianity in america there is a massive amount of carnality in the church and we want god to come we want god to come if he came now it would kill many of us it would destroy many churches 1991 i wrote a book called whatever happened to the power of god with the subtitle is the charismatic church slain in the spirit or down for the count and one of the early chapters of the book is an outpouring could be fatal god wants to move more powerfully he wants to visit but he's got a clean house first and if it's this deep and this intense and it's a very deep and this intense and it's over and over and over what is it that he wants to do with his glory coming every every valley will be lifted up every mountain and hill made low the crooked place is made straight the rough place is made plain this is in preparation for a greater move than we've ever seen praise god for the moving and outpouring of his spirit he said through moses to the children of israel have them make for me a sanctuary a holy place for and i will dwell in their midst you make a holy place for me a place where i feel welcome and i'll come in power it's the same with our personal lives we make room for him we turn away from the sin the uncleanness and the junk and now we welcome him and he comes in power and touches us i remember in the 1980s having a certain impression of the church of america which was somewhat misguided i remember just thinking of how much good we were doing around the world and how some of our preachers were known around the world and we were exporting this and that around the world and and i was seeing the good that was happening but was not as fully aware of of the corruption and the sin and the junk that was there and then around 87 thereabouts we have the falling of the two best-known tv preachers and i mean massive ministries and they both come down and and i remember when the first the first one fell so that ministry was not really my style and different kind of emphasis than i than i liked and and it was it was the the other brother that fell subsequently i really liked his ministry and his holiness message and his boldness but when the first guy went down he started mocking him publicly he started attacking publicly and i thought oh you don't want to do that man don't set yourself up as the blade of grass that's taller than everybody else because you're gonna mow down don't don't correct with brokenness correct with a broken heart unless you say well i'm not like that i'm better than that but that shook us and it stirred up prayer movements because it was two major figures and that's what helped pave the way for the hunger and thirst that brought in the revival movements of the 90s the purging the purification the shaking of the late 80s gave birth to the revival movements of the 90s and what's happening now in a certain sense is more widespread and over a longer period of time and more intense and that tells me that what's coming next is going to be more glorious god is doing serious work to get us ready for an outpouring let me say it again when the spirit falls he wants to bless us not hurt us and it's always by the blood as we sang about it it's always by the blood you know that that song from some years back take me into the holy of holies okay a quick announcement and then we resume the message what the spirit is doing in the truth it's the line of fire with your host dr michael brown get on the line of fire by calling 866-344 here again is dr michael brown michael brown here we're not taking calls because this is a pre-recorded broadcast we go back to the message beautiful song and we sing take the coal touch my lips here i stand and we kind of sing it normally with head back like this you know that charismatic pose take the coal touch my lips here i stand i'm thinking it's summertime sing that at a barbecue next barbecue take the coal touch my tail who sings that with a smile take the coal do we realize the coal burns try it at the barbecue today yeah take the call touch my lips it's fire it's refining it's purified it's intense it's painful oh but it brings something beautiful it brings something beautiful a purging a refining this deep is going to bring something more glorious than we have yet to yet seen number four the refiner's fire has been at work for several years now i was grieved in the 2010s as i saw america continue to collapse morally and spiritually america in a seemed just like a downward spiral that was in the natural irreversible but i was seeing very little brokenness in the churches very little hunger very little thirst very little repentance all pockets here and there and i wasn't like well i'm carrying it why aren't you i'm saying look because it's always us it's always we whenever i hear of someone who fell into sin and was exposed i always feel that's what that's we that's us that's our family we're part of this i was grieved like where's the brokenness i don't see greater brokenness i don't see greater hunger around the third quarter of 2019 i was in some large meetings thousands of people coming together hungering and thirsting for revival and i saw some signs there that something was growing that the longing for god to come was deepening that something was shifting and then i began to get invitations and instead of churches saying dr brown could you come in and teach about can teach about can you be gay and christian or could you help us understand god's purposes for israel they're saying dr brown can you come in and preach on revival we need a move of god we need a breakthrough january of 2020 i was preaching in a church in california about six thousand people healthy body going after the loss making a difference and they asked me to come in a day early so like friday night i could preach on a revival theme i said i'm there let's do it so a place was packed and i preached on god coming as a refiner's fire a message i preached many times over the years from alakai the third chapter and the nature of the refiner's fire is that it is super hot super heated fire so you throw into it gold silver it looks fine to the natural eye but when it gets in that super heated fire all the junk comes to the surface all the dross all the uncleanness and that's what happens when the refiner's fire comes in revival you go into a service thinking i'm great i'm good next thing you're laying on your face repenting and wailing many a pastor told me that they came down to the brownsville revival with their people because quote my people needed a touch from god my people needed to be revived they'd rent buses and come down with bunch of them to fly in from all around the country and around the world and the pastors would say to me i brought my people because they needed a fresh touch from god but when the altar call came he said i was the first one running to the altar to repent and they say to me the same thing i feel like i got saved all over again so i was preaching on the theme of the refiner's fire and it also says in malachi three that that will come like fuller soap a launderer's soap one time i was in india and out the back window from the little hotel where we were there were some launderers some fullers doing their work that they normally work like a river some body of water where there's running water this time they they just had these giant buckets in the back and when i'd go to india the early days it would be for for like a month so and it was all jacket and tie kind of meetings so every one of us would so every week you just leave your laundry to be to be cleaned and next morning it's it's laying there by your hotel room all clean and stuff and when i go to put this shirt on i just what happened to the button here it's a button for the cuff it's missing this button here it's like cut in half wonder what happened to the buttons well this day while i'm looking out the back window we didn't get picked up we got stuck in the room a whole day because the transportation issue in the city no communication so we're watching these guys work and and we're we're watching there's some shirt and they throw it into the soapy water and then squeezing it squeezing it squeezing it okay then they take it on that then they put it in the clean water and squeeze it squeeze it and then they take the shirt on a rock take that thing banging it on a rock i realize that's what happens to my buttons taking that thing on the rock and then they'd hang hang it up to dry the blazing hot sun and i thought that's god coming like laundry soap oh lord i i just want you to have my whole life okay there you go you got it here's a fire so i preach on these themes god coming is a refiner's fire and then we have a massive altar call so it's a long platform like this whole completely filled people crying out to god and i felt the lord say it needs to go deeper i only do this when i'm really prompted i said some of you will not be free until you come up on this platform and publicly confess and you want to you need to i'm not asking you to you want to you need to give that out that i said you don't need to give details to embarrass yourselves but suddenly you need to do that and next thing you know the whole front is filled with people standing there crying and shaking and first guy takes the mic maybe he's in his 40s he said i i've been working in drug rehab he said i'm on drugs myself you nobody knew it here i need help he starts weeping we surround him with people praying a little boy takes the mic the way i talk to my mommy and daddy it's so wrong and he's weeping next thing the mommy and daddy hugging him very intense sacred knife so i go back to my hotel room you know when it's time to chill maybe i'll start writing an article or working editing a book maybe having some healthy snack and watch sports for a few minutes just unwind a little bit but i say no no you got you better get on your knees god's moving you better get on your knees so i'm just hungering for the lord praying and as i'm praying the weirdest thoughts start flooding my mind wanting to be somebody wanted to be known wanting fleshly ambition i thought that's been dead in me for years what is that it was embarrassed it was humiliating embarrassing to think such ugly unclean thoughts so i journaled it i'm thinking all the next day i realized you preached on the refiner's fire didn't you buddy and now i brought up stuff you didn't know was in you and i said something's happening we're getting i believe we're getting close i believe this this next wave of revival is getting close and it's like all hell broke loose covid hit and then and then the racial tension and the race riots and and then the election frenzy and then the failed trump prophecies and and then the upheaval on january 6th and then scandal after scandal after scandal and another and yet another i don't say this to attack or throw stones just yet another and another and it hit me about two years in the refiner's fire came to the nation the refiner's fire came to the church it's brought up all the junk that was there all the all the the errors and things they've just come to the surface the division that was in our midst it's come to the surface god's moving something's happening and then towards the end of of 2022 i was in a lot of churches like mercy culture god's doing a unique and special and beautiful thing here which has its own rhythm and melody and feel but i mean other churches where young people are flocking where they call for a prayer meeting and the building's packed out where god's moving and it was place after place after place where i would go i saw this is already happening in their midst and i knew that that next thing has happened there are farmers fires come the beginning of the first wave is here i got on the radio early last year and i said i just want to declare this the beginning of the next wave of revival it's in its early phases but the beginning of the next wave of revival is already here in america and i'm telling you it's begun and then about eight days later revival hit asbury and the whole nation was talking about it i got back on the air i said i told you something has begun what i didn't realize was that we were going to have more waves of the refiner's fire going even deeper and more things being revealed and more pain coming up and more things to deal with and here we are again now and the scary thing is that stuff from the past from years back is being dredged up god does not enjoy doing that god takes no delight in revealing sin he would much rather bring us to repentance and deal with things behind closed doors obviously certain things have to go outside of closed doors but whatever can be dealt with he loves to forgive us and remember our sins no more why is stuff coming to the surface now and that's point number five it's because if we don't rightly clean up the past it'll come back to haunt us if we don't deal with things look everybody has something you have to deal with an interpersonal relationship that never got fixed some argument with someone something god convicted you of something that got covered over everybody has something and the thing is you you deal with it when it happens as best as you can you fix it when you can you fix it when it's small you you you confess there's certain things it's just between you and god certain things between you and your spouse certain things you need to sit with a team of leaders certain things need to be reported to the police they're all different levels but because we haven't rightly dealt with things now there's a place for junk to come up there's a place for things to haunt from the past that's why because every every single one of us has to deal with some area of life where god has convicted us respond to conviction now fix things now humble yourselves now make things right now do what you have to do to come clean now so that this thing won't haunt you in the future it's so critically important we do this because when the fire comes all the stuff comes up all the stuff comes up to the surface and you come under such intense conviction you can't hold on to it any longer either and this is because god loves us because he wants to help us because sin in our spirit is more dangerous than cancer in our body so it's essential we say lord do this work and that everyone has this posture which is lord touch my lips take the call touch my lips here i stand one of my colleagues texted the other day as we were just grieving over the latest news in revelation and he said to me so it's not so much about this one and this one and this one and this one and this one he said it's about the man in the mirror and and those who've sinned those have had their their past come up to haunt them they're they're paying a very deep price and may god somehow show his redemptive power in the midst of this and somehow going good out of the pain and difficulty and sin all right we've got one more break and then the end of the message i pray it is ministering to you it's the line of fire with your host dr michael brown get on the line of fire by calling 866-34 truth here again is dr michael brown michael brown here we're not taking calls because this is a pre-recorded broadcast we go back to the message beautiful song and we sing take the call touch my lips here i stand and we kind of sing it normally with head back like this you know that charismatic pose take the coal touch my lips here i stand i'm thinking it's summertime sing that at a barbecue the next barbecue take the coal touch my take who sings that with a smile take the coal do we realize that coal burns try it at the barbecue today yeah take the call touch my lips it's fire it's refining it's purified it's intense it's painful oh but it brings something beautiful it brings something beautiful a purging a refining this deep is going to bring something more glorious than we have yet to yet seen number four the refiner's fire has been at work for several years now i was grieved in the 2010s as i saw america continue to collapse morally and spiritually america in a seemed just like a downward spiral that was in the natural irreversible but i was seeing very little brokenness in the churches very little hunger very little thirst very little repentance all pockets here and there and i wasn't like well i'm carrying it why aren't you i'm saying look because it's always us it's always we whenever i hear of someone who fell into sin and was exposed i always feel that's that's we that's us that's our family we're part of this i was grieved like where's the brokenness i don't see greater brokenness i don't see greater hunger around the third quarter of 2019 i was in some large meetings thousands of people coming together hungering and thirsting for revival and i saw some signs there that something was growing that the the longing for god to come was deepening that something was shifting and then i began to get invitations and instead of churches saying dr brown could you come in and teach about can you be gay and christian or could you help us understand god's purposes for israel they're saying dr brown can you come in and preach on revival we need a move of god we need a breakthrough january of 2020 i was preaching in a church in california about 6 000 people healthy body going after the loss making a difference and they asked me to come in a day early so like friday night i could preach on a revival theme i said i'm there let's do it so place was packed and i preached on god coming as a refiner's fire a message i preached many times over the years from alakai the third chapter and the nature of the refiner's fire is that it is super hot superheated fire so you throw into it gold silver it looks fine to the natural eye but when it gets in that superheated fire all the junk comes to the surface all the dross all the uncleanness and that's what happens when the refiner's fire comes in revival you go into a service thinking i'm great i'm good next thing you're laying on your face repenting and wailing many a pastor told me that they came down to the brownsboro revival with their people because quote my people needed a touch from god my people needed to be revived they'd rent buses and come down with a bunch of them to fly in from all around the country and around the world and the pastors would say to me i brought my people because they needed a fresh touch from god but when the altar call came he said i was the first one running to the altar to repent and they say to me the same thing i feel like i got saved all over again so i was preaching on the theme of the refiner's fire and it also says in malakai three that that he'll come like fuller soap a launderer's soap one time i was in india and out the back window from the little hotel where we were there were some launderers some fullers doing their work they normally work like a river some body of water where there's running water this time they just had these giant buckets in the back and when i'd go to india the early days it would be for for like a month so and it was all jacket and tie kind of meetings so every week you just leave your laundry to be to be cleaned and next morning it's it's laying there by your hotel room all clean and stuff and when i go to put this shirt on i just what happened to me and i just what happened to the button here it's a button for the cuff it's missing but this button here it's like cut in half i wonder what happened to the buttons well this day where i'm looking out the back window we didn't get picked up we got stuck in the room a whole day because the transportation issue in the city no communication so we're watching these guys work and and we're we're watching there's some shirt and they throw it into the soapy water and then squeezing it squeezing it squeezing it okay then they take it out of that then they put it in the clean water and squeeze it squeeze it and then they take the shirt on a rock take that thing banging it on a rock i realize that's what happens to my buttons banging that thing on the rock and then they'd hang hang it up to dry the blazing hot sun and i thought that's god coming like laundry soap oh lord i i just want you to have my whole life okay there you go you got it here's a fire so i preach on these themes god coming is a refiner's fire and then we have a massive altar call so it's a long platform like this whole completely filled people crying out to god and i felt the lord say it needs to go deeper i only do this when i'm really prompted i said some of you will not be free until you come up on this platform and publicly confess and you want to you need to i'm not asking you to you want to you need to give that out that i said you don't need to give details to embarrass yourselves but suddenly you need to do that and next thing you know the whole front is filled with people standing there crying and shaking it first guy takes the mic maybe he's the mic maybe he's in his 40s he said i i've been working in drug rehab he said i'm on drugs myself you nobody knew it here i need help he starts weeping we surround him with people praying a little boy takes the mic the way i talk to my mommy and daddy it's so wrong and he's weeping next thing the mommy and daddy hugging him very intense sacred knife so i go back to my hotel room you know when it's time to chill maybe i'll start writing an article or working editing a book maybe have some healthy snack and watch sports for a few minutes just unwind a little bit but i say no no you got you better get on your knees god's moving you better get on your knees so i'm just hungering for the lord praying and as i'm praying the weirdest thoughts start flooding my mind wanting to be somebody wanted to be known wanting fleshly ambition i thought that's been dead me for years what is that it was embarrassed it was humiliating embarrassing to think such ugly unclean thoughts so i journaled it i'm thinking all the next day i realized you preached on the refiner's fire didn't you buddy and now i brought up stuff you didn't know was in you and i said something's happening we're getting i believe we're getting close i believe this this next wave of revival is getting close and it's like all hell broke loose covid hit covid hit and then and then the racial tension and the race riots and and then the election frenzy and then the failed trump prophecies and and then the upheaval on january 6th and then scandal after scandal after scandal and another and yet another i don't say this to attack or throw stones just yet another and another and it hit me about two years in the refiner's fire came to the nation the refiner's fire came to the church it's brought up all the junk that was there all the all the the errors and things they've just come to the surface the division that was in our midst it's come to the surface god's moving something's happening and then towards the end of of 2022 i was in a lot of churches like mercy culture god's doing a unique and special and beautiful thing here it has its own rhythm and melody and feel but i mean other churches where young people are flocking where they call for a prayer meeting and the building's packed out where god's moving and it was place after place after place where i would go i saw this is already happening in their midst and i knew that that next thing has happened the refiner's fire has come the beginning of the first wave is here i got on the radio early last year and i said i just want to declare this the beginning of the next wave of revival it's in its early phases but the beginning of the next wave of revival is already here in america and i'm telling you it's begun and then about eight days later revival hit asbury and the whole nation was talking about it i got back on the air i said i told you something has begun what i didn't realize was that we were going to have more waves of the refiner's fire going even deeper and more things being revealed and more pain coming up and more things to deal with and here we are again now and the scary thing is that stuff from the past from years back is being dredged up god does not enjoy doing that god takes no delight in revealing sin he would much rather bring us to repentance and deal with things behind closed doors obviously certain things have to go outside of closed doors but whatever can be dealt with he loves to forgive us and remember our sins no more why is stuff coming to the surface now and that's point number five it's because if we don't rightly clean up the past it'll come back to haunt us if we don't deal with things look everybody has something you have to deal with an interpersonal relationship that never got fixed some argument with someone something god convicted you of something that got covered over everybody has something and the thing is you you deal with it when it happens as best as you can you fix it when you can you fix it when it's small you you you confess there's certain things it's just between you and god certain things between you and your spouse certain things you need to sit with a team of leaders certain things need to be reported to the police they're all different levels but because we haven't rightly dealt with things now there's a place for junk to come up there's a place for things to haunt from the past that's why because every every single one of us has to deal with some area of life where god has convicted us respond to conviction now fix things now humble yourselves now make things right now do what you have to do to come clean now so that this thing won't haunt you in the future it's so critically important we do this because when the fire comes all the stuff comes up all the stuff comes up to the surface and you come under such a intense conviction you can't hold on to it any longer either and this is because god loves us because he wants to help us because sin in our spirit is more dangerous than cancer in our body so it's essential we say lord do this work and that everyone has this posture which is lord touch my lips take the call touch my lips here i stand one of my colleagues texted the other day as we were just grieving over the latest news in revelation and he said to me so it's not so much about this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one he said it's about the man in the mirror and and those who've sinned those have had their the past come up to haunt them they're they're paying a very deep price and may god somehow show his redemptive power in the midst of this and somehow very good out of the pain and difficulty and sin all right we've got one more break and then the end of the end of the message i pray it is ministering to you it's the line of fire with your host dr michael brown get on the line of fire by calling eight six six three four truth here again is dr michael brown all right this is it we bring you into the conclusion of my message for mercy culture report for texas last year but ultimately when i whenever i hear a report about anyone else after grieving that god's name has been hurt once again and grieving for those who have been hurt directly first thing i do is i search my own life i search my own heart and there was a split at the end of the browser revival between john coe patrick the pastor and me it was a split between the church and the school and everyone was trying to do the right thing i believe before god the enemy got in and for two years we couldn't reconcile couldn't find a way to reconcile and fix this and it split so many lives it hurts so many people to this day i grieve that people were hurt over this and and i was coming back from india and on the plane the spirit spoke to me don't be so self-righteous and he didn't mean about the split he meant my whole life don't be so self-righteous buddy and that was the first thing that opened the door and within days there was wonderful reconciliation and friendship and and honor ever since and a very public service to to do that together but if ever there's a word for us now it's don't be so self-righteous again god forbid that that you gloat oh i didn't like this person anyway i didn't like this mercy this ministry anyway and they take a fall don't don't dare gloat over that well they weren't in my theological camp you see you see i fear for that attitude i deeply do take the coal touch my lips and if the lord brings something to remembrance hey you never dealt with this you never fixed this go back and fix it go back and make things right because god delights in remembering our sins no more and love covers a multitude of sins but we must deal with things righteously amen amen two more points god is judging whole systems now please hear me i'm not saying this to point a finger at any individual i have no individual in mind as i speak but god's about to burn up celebrity christianity he's in the process of burning up celebrity christianity what do i mean by that i mean our culture of exalting servants of the lord into superstar status and as leaders our culture of basking in that and wanting to be the person so look if god's called you to have influence and reach many you will be known your face will be known you'll be stopped at airports or people will be excited to meet you okay do you glory in that do you feed on that do you want that do you build into that do you set things up in such a way that people look at oh the big man of god a big woman of god powerful last time i was here i i preached a message and switched the themes that the first service i just was burdened to preach on no more exalting people no more exalting people but we have a whole culture where where being a leader means being a celebrity being cool you associate leadership with coolness now look some people look cool like pastor landon and some people do not like me i don't have to worry about the cool factor i am known after worry about the celebrity thing but i am not cool i have never been cool well hang on my long hair hippie days i was very cool then i was very cool my wife nancy saw a picture of me she didn't know me before i was saved she saw a picture of me before i was saved seven years later she started laughing i said you're laughing because i looked like a woman she said no i'm laughing because you look like an ugly woman don't do it now don't do it now there'll be a ripper of laughter through the building but later on just type in michael brown from lsd to phd and you will oh people are going to do it now i'm going to do it now i'm going to do it now i'm going to do it phd and you will else people are going to do it now you will find an old picture of me yeah so her assessment was right but i mean in many parts of the world being a leader means being killed in many parts of the world being a leader means the first to go to jail many parts of the world being a leader means the one who suffers most hey man i want to be a leader in the early church oh yeah they're always openings because they're always getting killed you bet yeah peter's killed and yem thomas is killed and yeah james yeah they're all been killed you bet they're always openings that one of my colleagues was telling me when they were doing church planting in one nation in asia that before you could plant a church you would have to go to jail for a certain period of time i was just if you're a follower of jesus in obedience you will go to jail and if you don't something's wrong in our culture being a leader is how to be rich how to be rich being a leader in the church how to be famous and how to be cool god's gonna burn that up it's a stench in his nostrils doesn't set people free doesn't transform lives and while while i'm all for encouraging and lifting people up and cheering them on the role of a spiritual leader is not just to be some life coach to give you pep talks lazarus did not need a pep talk he needed resurrection a sinful nation does not need pep talks it needs repentance and these resurrection and and the revival will only go as deep as the repentance so we may not realize when we say send the fire that he's going to shake a lot of our systems and a lot of our paradigms and a lot of our way of doing church in america it must happen many years ago when i became close with the revivalist leonard ravenhill is an old man he once said to me mike you know there's that saying christianity in america is three thousand miles wide and one foot deep i said yeah i've heard it he goes i don't believe it he goes it's not that deep so god's shaking us because we filled buildings but we haven't made disciples god's shaking us because we we've been known before the world but often for our hypocrisy last point when you look at the nature of what is being revealed and what is happening catholic church documented cases of church-related sexual abuse in france from the 1950s until a few years ago they have documented over 330 000 cases for those who think that the failures are just in charismatic circles massive massive cover-ups been revealed in southern baptist convention been revealed in southern baptist convention the largest protestant networker denomination in america you see this happening and here too i don't say this to condemn or throw stones that's us that's our family in terms of believers here in america but the point is the church is supposed to be a safe haven for people who've been abused the church is supposed to be the place where they come to get healing the church is supposed to be the one where if you've been burned sexually or hurt by someone in abuse of power or there's been god forbid clergy sexual abuse whatever it is the church is supposed to be the place where you come get it where people are your advocates not your adversaries where they stand with you not against you where your voice is heard not dismissed and where you can come and get healed and build up and i believe that that's what's going to happen as a result of the purging and purifying that that our churches will become places of refuge and safety i truly believe that when you see what the bad that's happening and how the enemy wants to destroy and discredit god's going to do the opposite of that even the work you're doing with with the justice house and and rescuing victims of human trafficking it should send the message out this is a place to come and you're safe this is a place to come you say i've been hurt i've been burned getting abused by my husband this is going on that's going on you can come and instead of you're the you're the adversary you're the bad one you come people are going to help and bring healing i believe that's god's purpose and not only that paul said to timothy that the the church is is god's foundation and pillar of the truth right now we're known for lies we're known for scandals but i believe when the purification takes place we're going to be known as a bastion of truth and that leaders are going to be known for integrity and honesty and character it's only by the grace of god it's only by the hand of god it's only by the spirit of god it's only by the fire of god but he is doing it right now very few people get to live through what we're living through right now and satan's goal is to disorient you discourage you make you feel that there's no one you can trust satan's goal is to come and attack you and your vulnerability and say what's the use and you just throw in the towel and yield to that drunkenness or that drug or that gambling or that sex or whatever the addiction is that's satan's goal god's goal is to get you stronger than you've ever been god's goal is to get you healthier than you've ever been god's goal is to bring you to a place and bring us to a place in the church of america to a place of wholeness that it has not known in generations but the work must go deep and the revival the outpouring can only go as deep as the repentance so my cry in my own life my cry for the church of america now is let the repentance go deeper let the repentance go deeper let it go to the very motivation of our heart let it go to the things that are unseen let it go to our systems let it go to our mindsets let it go to our private lives let the repentance go deeper and it comes because god is love it comes because god is pure because he so intensely loves you and me that he's not just going to let us go our way he's not just going to let us destroy ourselves but he's going to reach out through his son who dies to take every sin we ever committed take it on his shoulders so we can be cleansed and have new life in his son just meet with the lord commune with the lord he is not here to condemn the blood of jesus god's son cleanses us from all sin if the sun sets you free you are free indeed let the refiner's fire do its work make something beautiful out of every life here work in such a way that satan is defeated in every life in the name of jesus all right that concludes the message i preached at the end of the reformation conference at mercy culture church in fort worth texas and whatever god is saying to you speaking to you take hold of it may your own life be enriched and i pray that clarity insight faith and comfort came in the midst of this message may jesus glorify in your