March 16, 2008
Morning Worship
Text: Revelation 3:14-21
Subject: Overcoming
Title: Survival of the Fittest
I want to share with you today about a scientific concept that is predominant in the world to day – Survival of the fittest. This is a phrase that is spoken of by evolutionists but is more often referred to as “natural selection”. The meaning of the phrase Survival of the Fittest is, “Natural selection conceived of as a struggle for life in which only those organisms best adapted to existing conditions are able to survive and reproduce.” Now, obviously, I’m not going to stand here today and give a lecture on evolution, especially when I am sure that evolution is still a theory not based on scientific proof but on the theological basis that there is no God.
What I do want to speak about today is “Survival of the Fittest” in a supernatural or spiritual sense. This is the life that is set before you if you are a Christian. John the Baptist said, “I baptize you with water unto repentance, but there is one coming after me whose sandal straps I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire. The apostle John who wrote the book of Revelation gives us a message from Jesus Himself.
14“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
And the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches the battle of the survival of the fittest belongs to the one who overcomes.
And the only way to overcome is to keep your spiritual fire burning.
I. WET FIRE. (14-18) The first thing I want you to see here is that these words come from Jesus. It’s not from some delusional apostle on a prison island somewhere. These are the words of Jesus himself given to the apostle. These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. Listen to me now. You may think that you are doing pretty good in your relationship with God, but John 2:29 says that Jesus knows what is on the inside of a man. He knows what you are really about. Now remember He is the one who baptizes in fire. He wants you to be on fire. But too often He looks at His church and sees that there in fact is no fire. The fire has gone out. How could that happen? Could it be that the church has spent so many years gaining control over spiritual matters that it has forgotten how to release its control to the Comforter? 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. I think the NKJV describes this very clearly when it says Jesus is about to vomit this church out of His mouth. In other words, a church that is lukewarm makes Jesus sick. Oh but Pastor Mike, you don’t want church to get out of control. We have to maintain some sense of sanity don’t we? Listen, Peter said it best when he stood before the Jewish council, Whether it is right to obey God or man, you be the judge. He was going to obey God. He was on fire and was not going to let the fire go out. That wet fire we have in churches today is not a church problem. It’s an individual problem. Just as revival begins in the hearts of believers, so quenching the Spirit – the fire of God – begins with what a person is willing to let the Holy Spirit do in their own lives. I kind of get a sense for what Jesus was saying here because I am so sick of hearing ministers from our own fellowship tell me that the gifts of the spirit don’t have to be in church today. The manifestations of the Spirit aren’t relevant. We don’t need signs and wonders in the church today. Look at the world today and tell me that we don’t need Holy Ghost power in our churches. Do you know why the church doesn’t think that it needs the Holy Spirit? Verse 17, You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. That’s OK God. We’ve got it all under control. We’ll let you know when we need something. 17You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing…
18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. The city of Laodicea was famous for its wealth, but the Christians of the city were spiritually wretched, miserable, and poor. Laodicea was famous for its healing eye salve, but the Christians of the city were spiritually blind. Laodicea was famous for its fine clothing, but the Christians of the city were spiritually naked. Jesus sees a bankrupt church when the church thinks it is rich. He sees a naked church when it thinks it is finely clothed. He sees blindness when the church thinks it is seeing perfectly well. Ephesians 2:18, I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength…
Paul says the church needs to open its spiritual eyes to see the power of God, the fire of God, the promises of God and the riches of God displayed in Holy Ghost fire and revival in the church. Get rid of the wet fire and let the flame burn.
II. LIGHTING THE FIRE (19-20) How do you get the fire burning? 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Hebrews 11:1, 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Do you want fire? Seek after God. He is waiting for you. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. This call is for believers and unbelievers alike. If you have never had fire in you Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. To those who have known Him but have lost the fire he is saying, You will receive power when the Holy Ghost has come upon you… Did you ever notice in the Bible that the most intimate times Jesus had with His disciples were at meal times? When He fed the 5000 He revealed His power. When He ate the last Passover He revealed His purpose. When He came to them and ate after His resurrection He revealed His promise. Luke 24:45-48, 45Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” He promised you and me Holy Ghost power and fire. Receive it from Him. In John 20 the disciples had walked with Jesus for three and one-half years. After he was crucified and had risen from the dead He appeared to them and did something that changed their lives forever. He demonstrated to them with one simple action that He had authority and in fact that He was God. 21Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. In doing so He demonstrated that He had the same power that God demonstrated when He created Adam and breathed His Spirit into him. It wasn’t until then that Adam had life. When Jesus breathed on His disciples He also breathed the Holy Spirit (breath) of God and at that point the disciples were born again. Their fire was lit.
III. FANNING THE FLAME. Have you ever watched the survival shows on TV? There is one, Man verses Wild, that shows a guy basically out in the wilderness on His own trying to survive. One of the basic needs for survival is fire. For those of you who are a little less intense you can watch this on Survivor. At any rate in starting fire you have to start with a piece of material that is ready for fire. Then there is a spark from a flint or from friction and then a little smoke and an ember. The next thing is very important. They get down close to the spark and blow on it. In 2 Timothy 1, Paul wrote to a young pastor, 4Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 6For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. Paul didn’t say for Timothy to pray for someone to come along that would stir him up. He didn’t say to look for some great manifestation through the ministry of someone else. He said, “You fan it into flame. I helped you get it started. Now, You fan it.” I can stand here and preach the word to you. I can move in the Spirit and pray in the spirit and sing in the Spirit. I can pray over you for your needs and expect God to work miracles by my hand, but I can’t stir you up. I cannot fan your flame. All the spiritual activity in the church can only serve as a spark. You have to fan the flame. Without the moving of the Holy Spirit in your life you do not have the breath to fan any kind of flame. In Ezekiel 37, the valley of dry bones, 1The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” 4Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” The word translated “breath” is the same word translated “spirit” Now jump down to verse 7, So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Everything looked good. They looked healthy. On the surface they looked like the army of God. There was only one thing missing. NO LIFE! 9Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. It wasn’t physical breath that entered them. It was the breath of God, the Holy Spirit, who gave them life.
IV. BURNING FROM THE INSIDE OUT. Back to Revelation 3. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” God’s revelation of Himself to the church is complete through Jesus and the written word. . But – Holy Ghost enlightenment of the word is a continuing process. Do you want to stir yourself up – to fan into flame that which is already inside of you? It comes from studying the word, accepting God’s promises, and standing on them by faith. Jeremiah 20:8-9, Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. 9But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in;
That is the kind of fire that God wants to burn inside of you. Hebrews 12, 28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Jesus says that the one who overcomes will be seated with Him. You are overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony. It is in the power of the Holy Spirit that you can prevail till the end.
What is the Spirit saying to the churches?
No eye has seen, no ear has heard no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him – but God has revealed to us by His Spirit.
Just like evolutionary thought about the survival of the fittest being the ones who adapt to their environment will be survivors I can tell you without a doubt that it is the people of God who are led by the spirit of God, are empowered by the Spirit of God, who listen to what the spirit is saying to the church, who allow the Spirit to manifest Himself in their lives, in the church, in Palmyra, MO, those who are hungry for more of God, who are stirring themselves up and fanning into flame the spark that is in them – they are the ones who will be survivors.
God is calling your name today. Fan the flame.
