TURN UP THE HEAT! "Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would that thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:14-16). 1. It is the will of God for you to be "on fire for God!" 2. Old Testament examples of fire as a type of "the power and presence of God": a. the burning bush (Ex. 3:1-6). b. "The glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel" (Ex. 24:17). c. the pillar of fire (Numbers 9:15-23). d. Elijah at Mount Carmel: "The God that answereth by fire, let him be God" (I Kings 18:24). 3. The Holy Ghost power within us is likened unto fire. a. John the Baptist spoke concerning Jesus, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matthew 3:11). b. Jesus promised his followers: "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). 4. When we are baptized with the Holy Spirit, we are filled with the presence of Jesus--the power of God. A holy fire is ignited in the sanctuary of our heart. 5. God wants us to be hot Christians--on fire for Him! 6. Take your spiritual temperature: a. If we are on fire for God, we will love Jesus more than everything and everybody. Our whole life will be centered around Him. Our dreams, our plans, our ambitions will always be according to what He wants for us! b. If we are on fire for Jesus, we will love to pray, worship, fast, read the Bible, attend the house of God more than anything else! We will count it a privilege to be able to give our tithing and our offerings for the upbuilding of the work of God. We will love our church and promote unity in it. c. If we are on fire for Jesus, we will bear the fruit of the Spirit, thus loving God, loving one another, and loving those who are outside the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:22, 23). We will also be subject to our leaders, and honour them (Hebrews 13:17; I Timothy 5:17). d. If we are on fire for Jesus, we will seek to be more like Jesus, and share His burden for a world that is lost. We will pray for souls that are lost, and seek to win them to Jesus Christ. e. A hot Christian is a person who is zealous for the Lord! In the New Testament,the word "zeal" as recorded in the New Testament, comes to us from two Greek words: zeo, which means "to be hot (boil of liquids; glow of solids), to be fervent and earnest," and zelos, which means "heat, zeal, ardor." 7. The "lukewarm" Christian: a. The lukewarm Christian may be faithful to attend church, and give in the offerings. But his heart is not really in the things of God. There is no real "fire" or fervency in his worship. He is just doing his religous duty! He is more caught up in his life outside the church--his career, house, friends, family, etc., than in spiritual matters. Jesus is not at the center of his life. b. The lukewarm Christian is often spiritually immature and carnal, rather than spiritual (I Corinthians 3:1-3). c. The lukewarm Christian, because he does not put Jesus first in his life, and does not pray and seek God's face as he should, does not live and walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25). Perhaps he is not guilty of the big sins, but he is becoming attracted to the world, and is less interested in spiritual things. 8. It's dangerous to be a "lukewarm Christian" because: a. The "cold" Christian is aware of his true condition. He feels convicted that he is not fully surrendered to Jesus. He knows that if Jesus Christ should come, he is not ready. b. This is not so with the lukewarm Christian. He is spiritually asleep. He does not realize his true condition. That is why Jesus said, "I would thou wert cold or hot." "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked" (Revelation 3:17). 9. What does this verse of Scripture mean?: "He feedeth on ashes" (Isaiah 44:20). There are people who used to have a fire burning in their souls, but now they are "feeding on ashes," the remains of what once was a fire. They have no fresh testimony. It is always "Five years ago, God did so and so for me!" 10. The three fires in the sanctuary -- and later the temple: a. The golden candlestick. God commanded concerning the golden candlestick: "cause the lamp to burn always" (Exodus 27:20). b. The altar of incense. Morning and evening the high priests burned sweet incense, a type of prayer and worship (Exodus 30:1, 7-9; Psalm 141:2). c. The brazen altar. Animal sacrifices were required to be offered in the morning and in the evening upon the brazen altar. (Exodus 29:38, 39). God commanded concerning the fire on the brazen altar: "The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out (Leviticus 6:13). 11. We are God's sanctuary. We must never allow the fire to go out on the altar of our spiritual lives. We must keep the fire burning! ds |