“Set Us on Fire God!”
I Thessalonians 5:19
Paul exhorted the Thessalonian Christians not to quench or extinguish the Holy Spirit. It’s easy for us to get sidetracked by the things of this world causing us to lose our passion for the things of God and allowing the flames of our faith to become mere embers If we are to live lives that are pleasing and acceptable to God; if we are to carry out the purpose to which He has called us we need to a spiritual passion and to rekindle the fire. We need the power of God’s Holy Spirit to fall on us and set on fire. More love! More power! More about you God! The cry of our heart is “Set us on fire God. Set us on fire!”
I. Set us on fire with a passion for Christ and His Word
A. As Americans, we are passionate amount many things. We are passionate about sports, food, Larry Crabb in his book Finding God says, “The core problem is not that we are too passionate about bad things, but that we are not passionate enough about good things.”
B. God’s greatest commandment is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 to love our God with all of our being. We need to have a holy passion for Christ and His Word.
C. 1 Chronicles 29:17-19 “I know also, my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things; and now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here to offer willingly to You. O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the intent of the thoughts of the heart of Your people, and fix their heart toward You. And give my son Solomon a loyal heart to keep Your commandments and Your testimonies and Your statutes, to do all these things, and to build the temple for which I have made provision“
D. You cannot develop a passion for Christ without knowing Him. You cannot know Him without spending time with Him. You cannot spend time with Him without hearing His word. You cannot hear His word without realizing how awesome Christ is. You cannot realize how awesome Christ is without Christ moving your heart. You cannot have Christ move your heart without it resulting in your loving Him. And you cannot love Him without having a passion to know Christ more.
E. Luke 24:32 “And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
F. To have a passion for Christ we must have a passion for His Word. We need to make daily Bible study a perpetual habit—as much a part of our lives as eating every day. Peter tells us in his first epistle that we are to earnestly desire or to pursue with love the milk of God’s Word. (1 Peter 2:2)
G. When we read God’s Word as it is, God’s love letter to us, and hide it in our hearts, it will transform us and burn within in us a desire to make His Word known to others.
H. Jeremiah 20:9 “Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.”
II. Set us on fire with a passion for the lost
A. If we are in constant communion with the Lord Jesus, we will increasingly share His concern and develop a passion for the souls of men.
B. Luke 19:10 “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
C. Can you say that you have an intense burning passion for souls? How much real concern have we for those who are without a knowledge of the Savior? Paul’s heart was broken and bled for the lost of Israel.
D. Romans 10:1 “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.”
E. Romans 9:1-3 “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
F. When Dwight L. Moody was in London during one of his famous evangelistic tours, several British clergymen visited him. They wanted to know how and why this poorly educated American was so effective in winning throngs of people to Christ. Moody took the three men to the window of his hotel room and asked each in turn what he saw. One by one, the men described the people in the park below. Then Moody looked out the window with tears rolling down his cheeks. “What do you see, Mr. Moody?” asked one of the men. “I see countless thousands of souls that will one day spend eternity in hell if they do not find the Savior.” Obviously, D. L. Moody saw people differently than the average observer does. And because he saw eternal souls where others saw only people strolling in a park, Moody approached life with a different agenda. - Today in the Word, February 1, 1997
G. If we are to win the lost, we must have a passion for souls, a burden for those who are travelling on to a Christless eternity.
H. Romans 10:14 “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”
I. 1 Corinthians 9:16 “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!”
J. Francis Dixon says that a passion for souls will evidence itself in several ways:
1. Soul-winning becoming the main business of our lives. If we have this passion we shall share the spirit of John Knox who cried, ‘Give me Scotland or I die!’
2. Our service for Christ will be watered with tears. “If our loved ones are desperately ill we shed many tears; yet when men and women, dead in transgressions and sins.”
3. We shall be willing to lose our lives for the sake of others. Jesus did that, Paul did that, likewise David Brainerd, C.T. Studd, Jim Elliot – and so does every soul-winner! “Compared with the value of one precious soul, whatever we ‘lose’ in order to win one soul is relatively nothing!” – adapted from http://www.wordsoflife.co.uk
III. Set us on fire with a passion for holiness that eschews sin
A. Job 1:1 “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” – Had an intense desire to be holy
B. O that we would have a desire to live godly lives.
C. If we have a true passion for Christ, we will have a passion for holiness that loves righteousness and hates sin.
D. Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
E. "Hungering and thirsting" signifies a genuine continual craving of the soul. He is not referring to an occasional desire to be right, but a passionate craving for that which is right.”
F. In your life right now, what are you hungering and thirsting after? Where is your heart?
G. Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
H. 1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
I. If you love God, you will hate sin. The degree that you love God is the degree that you hate sin. We must realize that God Hates sin!
We must also come to hate sin in the same way!
J. The story is told of a young girl who accepted Christ as her Savior and applied for membership in a local church. “Were you a sinner before you received the Lord Jesus into your Life?” inquired an old deacon. “Yes, sir,” she replied. “Well, are you still a sinner?” “To tell you the truth, I feel I’m a greater sinner than ever.” “Then what real change have you experienced?” “I don’t quite know how to explain it,” she said, “except I used to be a sinner running after sin, but now that I am saved I’m a sinner running from sin!” she was received into the fellowship of the church, and she proved by her consistent life that she was truly converted. – Our Daily Bread
K. Romans 12:9 “Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”
