Sermon Central
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Dont Let Your Fire Go Out
Contributed by K. Simms on Nov 5, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: What do you do to keep the embers in the House of God buring?
Don’t Let Your Fire Go Out
In a little town unknown to many there was a small church. One night smoke and flames consumed this little church. People from all over town stood in the streets and watched the church as it burned. The local preacher drove up and noticed several people that he hadn’t seen in a while. Walking up to one man he asked “my brother where have you been, I haven’t seen you around here in a while”. The man look the preacher up and down and sarcastically responded, “that’s because I hadn’t seen this church on fire in a while”!
This story is somewhat humorous but it details the attitude of many believers who have begun to look for “fire-breathing preachers” to ignite a flame within them to motivate them to become excited about coming to church. But what these church folk fail to realize is that they are the church and perhaps the problem with them is that they are looking for an awesome worship experience without understanding that the worship begins in them. I heard a church member say, “she wasn’t coming back to the church because she couldn’t see Jesus in the people”. Well I submit to you this morning that members of the church don’t come to the building to find Jesus… members of the church should bring Jesus wherever they go.
Every believer should have two elements of God in them no matter where they are… two elements that should be present at every meeting of God’s people… two elements that are fundamental to the spiritual conflagration that we should be searching for every single day; not just of Sunday morning or Wednesday evening, but every day of our lives. The two required elements are the Holy Ghost and Fire.
During the time of John the Baptist, his preaching was unto repentance. In other words his preaching invoked a mind change concerning behavior in life and he baptized unto repentance. But he made sure that he informed those who repented that there would be one to come after him who would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with Fire. So allow me to say to us quickly that water baptism does not provide salvation and continual redemption because salvation and continual redemption is given by way of Holy Ghost fire.
Now let’s separate the two elements so that we’ll understand their works. The Holy Ghost is a comforter and a guide, while the fire represents the presence of God’s power. The believer has to receive power from God and that fire must never go out. Jesus said upon His return to heaven that we would receive power after that the Holy Ghost.
One dictionary defines fire as 1) the active principle of burning, characterized by the heat and light of combustion; 2) a strong feeling and excitement; & 3) to become excited or aroused. The purpose of fire as we know it is used in several ways. Fire in its most common use is used to heat things up, mainly food… Fire is used to burn things up… Fire is also used to kill germs.
If we would transfer these everyday uses of fire to our spiritual lives, we would discover that the fire of the Holy Ghost does the same thing for our minds. The Holy Ghost fire sanctifies, satisfies, justifies and purifies the believer. The fire of the Holy Ghost is the power of God in the believer’s life. The fire is needed for the continual cleansing of our mind because we are contaminated daily by the germs of sin and the pollution of life. The only way to combat sin is to burn it with the Holy Ghost fire.
It goes without saying that if you have no power, you are an easy target and a magnet for mess. It’s not easy to be around a person with no power because that person will drain the very life from you. Those of you who may be considering marriage, check the yoke and check the power meter. The person you consider needs to have equal or more power than you. You don’t need anybody draining your power and pulling you down with them. “You can do bad all by yourself.” Where is your power?
It’s dangerous to live in this world without the fire of the Holy Ghost. You need a solution to every instance of life. What will you do when you run into trouble?… What will you do about the people, problems, and pressures of daily life?... What will you do when you find out the one you love is loving someone else?... What will you do when your children get into trouble?... What will you do when your marriage is in trouble?... What will you do when your money runs out?... How can you make it?... How can you remain focused when so much is going on around you?
