Fire in Your Soul
2 Kings 10:15-16
When the Spirit of Christ is filling a person’s heart, light and heat are present.
Zeal alone does not make a Christian!
Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
(Rom 10:1-4)
Knowledge of the truth in Jesus alone does not make a Christian!
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
(Jas 2:19)
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
(Rom 10:9)
If the fear of punishment doesn’t lead me to the fear of sin the Gospel hasn’t reached my heart!
When faith enters my heart, I turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God!
You can’t just ADD Jesus to your life; an addition without a subtraction is like adding clean water to dirty water…
My subject this morning is Fire in the Soul…
Truth aflame; first love; fervency of faith
Jesus said, “I would thou wert hot!”
Zeal: ardor, enthusiasm – en theos :to infuse a Divine spirit
A. W. Tozer said, “God dwells in a state of perpetual enthusiasm. He is delighted with all that is good and lovingly concerned about all that is wrong. He pursues His labors always in a fullness of holy zeal. No wonder the Spirit came at Pentecost as a sound of a rushing mighty wind and sat in tongues of fire on every forehead. ... Whatever else happened at Pentecost, one thing that cannot be missed by the most casual observer was the sudden upsurging of moral enthusiasm. Those first disciples burned with a steady, inward fire. They were enthusiastic to the point of complete abandon.”
When a Christian is in touch with the Savior, he is like the disciples on the Damascus road… “And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”
(Luk 24:32)
We are not looking for just a “Warm Glow” to enjoy; we want to be ignited to activity and impacting on those around us!
In 1948 Jim Elliot wrote, “Why does not the Church awake? Our young men are going into the professional fields because they don’t, “Feel called,” to the mission field. We don’t need a call; we need a kick in the pants. We must begin thinking in terms of going out and stop our weeping because they win’t come in! Who wants to step into an igloo? The tombs themselves are not colder than the Churches. May God send us forth!”
What spiritual impact are you having upon others?
Every believer is impacting the spiritual vigor of those around him!Gordon McDonald listed several options in his book, "Restoring Your Spiritual Passion."
• Igniter- The Holy Spirit is the Creator of authentic spiritual energy! Do you provoke others? “I’ll paddle!”
• Sharer- “… that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.”
(Rom 1:12)
Paul & Silas Priscilla & Aquilla “Let’s paddle together!”
• Catcher- They receive & store spiritual energy for future use. A Catcher is a contributor, even though he drains your spiritual energy. Like Esther when Mordecai told her, “Who knows whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” “Let me paddle; I think I can do it!”
• Enjoyer- Nice people – “I like how you do it. I like being around spiritual people. You paddle so well; I could never do that!”
• Sapper- Would you hand me a Coke between strokes? “Please try not to splash me while you paddle.”
At the entrance of one of the great manufacturing plants in America is a sign that reads, “If you are like a wheelbarrow - going no farther than you are pushed - you need not apply for work here!” In spiritual endeavor, too, one must always manifest personal initiative and zeal and be willing to go the second mile.
What can you do to become a consistent Igniter?
• Temper zeal with knowledge and loyalty to the truth.
And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.
(2Ki 10:15)
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
(Pro 4:23)
I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
(2Jn 1:4)
But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.
Gal 4:18
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
Rom 10:2
• Admire and appreciate zeal.
And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they made him ride in his chariot.
(2Ki 10:16)
• Accept no substitutes for the zeal of the Lord. Vs.29; 2 Kings 10:29-31
Jehu held on to the worship practices established by King Jeroboam.
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
(1Ki 12:28-30)
A. He made convenience a priority.
B. He made an excuse for not doing God’s revealed will.
C. He found a precedent for compromise.
D. He promoted visually oriented worship.
1. The hair of the virgin is in Churches in Rome & Naples.
2. Her wedding ring is in a Church .
3. People buy “Holy Water” from the Jordan.
4. Wood from the cross
5. Statues are made to aid visually in worship.
The Lord is consistently intolerant of objects that are used as “Aids,” for worship!
“The just shall live by faith.”
“Without faith it is impossible to please Him…”
“… Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.”
(2Ki 18:1-7)
• Temper zeal with knowledge and loyalty to the truth.
• Admire and appreciate zeal.
• Accept no substitutes for the zeal of the Lord.
• Set out to inspire others by your zeal.
And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they made him ride in his chariot.
(2Ki 10:16)
For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many. 2Cor. 9:2
"And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."
(Heb 10:24-25)
