Internal Combustion

Internal Combustion

Jer. 20:9

Welcome CMA. That’s the Christian Motorcyclists Association…notice the 1st word in their name…I appreciate it! Some have come a long way to be with us, I’m sure, and we appreciate that! These folks are like you and me, and just like we should, they try to use one of their areas of interest to help reach some that may not be reached in any other way.

I’ve had more than 20 motorcycles…ok, I’ll admit, only 8 were mine, the rest were dad’s! But I rode them all like they were mine. Dad raised me right in the NM desert on dirt bikes, then enduro, graduating to street bikes. Those were the best days of…well, some of the best days of my life! The best day was marrying the only girl I’ve every TRULY loved, Kimberly…I asked her to marry me and she asked me to sell my Honda Interceptor. [uggghhhhh!] Here’s a pic…

Just let the fact that I gave up motorcycles [until the kids are grown] tell you how very much that I MUST love her!

Lots of bikes…and they all had 1 thing in common: fire! [not like that…ooh, that hurts to look at!!]

Internal Combustion! [slide] That’s our title for tonite…internal combustion. It’s how a bike engine operates…and, w/ special pipes, some choose to have external combustion!!

Turn to Jer. 20:9 [read]

A nice bike would be only a trophy, if not for the “fire”…you’re not goin’ anywhere! Dad blew his knee out kick-starting a bike this summer, why? He wanted it to fire!

It’s time for us get on fire for God again. [internally] It only takes a spark…a group like this could ignite and then pass it on!

Like Moses, at the burning bush, he met the God of fire! We need the same promise, for Him to make of us a great nation…but we’ll have to catch fire…the fire of God! Like the fire Elijah called down from heaven, that later engulfed his heaven-bound chariot! Like the pillar of fire which led Israel thru the night! The fire Isaiah wrote about in:

Isaiah 6:6-7

Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: [7] And he laid it upon my mouth… [and Isaiah said, Here am I, send me!]

Psalm 104:4

Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:

Matthew 3:11

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

And, as promised, in Acts, a flickering flame settled above each of 120 disciple’s heads, making them look like human candles! Talk about being on fire for God!!

It was the Holy Spirit--symbolized by fire! Are you on fire for God? It’s high time we come to that place…the “fire place”! We’ve always wanted a fireplace…we’ve lived in 7 houses in our 12 years of marriage, and never had one…but better than having a fireplace is have been to the “fire place!”

• Fire purifies

Num. 31: 23

Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean:

He’s talking about burning out the impurities, much like a silversmith putting the precious metal on the fire.

• Fire energizes

Would people say you are on fire for God? If not, you need to ask God for that zeal, fanned by the flames of the wind-driven Holy Spirit of God!

• Fire spreads!

It happens out west especially…if the conditions are right!

It should all start w/ the Pastor.

John Wesley said, let the preacher get on fire and people will come to watch him burn!

My desire is that central Illinois will never be able to say that they haven’t seen a church on fire. May GBC be that church! [not literally!]

Most of us have had the sad experience of being in a cold, dead church, with no fire…

…obviously just going thru the motions, heart is not in it...no one really expects anything to happen!

(ever visited a church like that? Ever been a member?)

Some say, what we need is some new converts, that’ll set the church on fire! No, what you need is some fire, and there will be people converted!

(why aren’t most churches seeing people saved? The answer is found in another question: Can God entrust them w/ new converts?)

Spurgeon: “to put new converts into most churches is like putting live chicks under a dead hen.” They need the warmth of “the fire!”

Gen. 22: God told Abraham to take his son, Isaac to the mountains to become a human sacrifice. They arrived at the location, and Isaac still did not realize that HE was going to be the sacrifice.