4 The Lord will wash away the filth from the daughters of Zion. He will wash away the blood from Jerusalem. With a spirit of judgment that burns like fire, he will make everything pure. 5 Then the Lord will create a cloud of smoke in the day and a bright flame of fire at night over every building and over every meeting of the people on the mountain of Zion. And there will be a covering over everyone for protection. ERV.
Introduction
Jesus said that half-hearted, lukewarm, indifferent Christians make Him literally sick to His stomach! He says to them, "I know your deeds and works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either one or the other, cold or hot! –So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew (vomit) you out of My mouth...Be zealous, therefore, and repent!"--Revelation 3:15,16,19. Jesus wants a church that is alive and on fire.
Here in the year 2013 it is quite clear that the church is under attack. It’s open season on pastors and the entire church as well. It is almost as if the world system is pushing the church into a corner and challenging the church to produce its credentials. It seems as if the world system wants to see what we really are all about, are we alive as we claim to be or is the church today on life support?
The church is being challenged very vigorously concerning the church’s doctrine. We are being asked to back-up what we believe the God of Word says concerning some of the most controversial issues of the day. For example, when the church reminds people that the Word of God calls same-sex marriage, abortion, infidelity, et cetera are a sin—the immediate response is prove it! But the catch is, they want you don’t prove it with your Bible because they want a more humanistic sort of scientific kind of proof. It is like Elijah vs. the Prophets of Baal all over again.
I recently participated in a discussion with a group who advocated same-sex marriage. This discussion derived from an interview Oprah Winfrey gave the well-known pastor Joel Osteen of Houston, Texas. Ms. Winfrey asked Osteen if he thought Gays would be accepted into heaven? Of course this was asked to booster Ms. Winfrey’s agenda and so she took the opportunity to ask “her favorite preacher” and I can tell you that she was not disappointed with his answer.
However, in the discussion, which I was a participant, a very intelligent young man who will remain nameless stated to my group that, “…You guys talk about the bible like it is a single cohesive work...it was written by many people with many points of view...not all of them against gays” he contended. I told the young man that contrary to his belief the Bible actually is a unified cohesive work.
But then I realized that this was perhaps one of the major disconnects between the church and the unchurched. They, or most of them believe that the Bible was written by flesh and blood only, and they have totally dismissed the fact that the Bible is a compilation of 66 books written by men under God's control through His Holy Spirit, which was my response to the young brother by the way. If mere men wrote the Bible without the Holy Spirit’s involvement and influence then what Dr. Phil, Oprah, and Iyanla and the other sooth-sayers of today says or believes is equal to anything the Apostle Paul or the other biblical writers has ever written or said. I praise God that this is not true!
The question that world ask, the question that the secular humanist, the atheist, and the LGBT just love to ask us is, “Do you have the goods to back up your doctrine and your widespread claims, or is the church just another institution that preaches one thing and practices another? Is the church today like the Church of Laodicea, the only church in which Jesus had absolutely nothing good to say about? Or can today’s church come alive and on fire in the way it is suppose to be?
1.) The Church Alive And On Fire Recognizes God’s People
Contrary to the today’s popular belief, the church is not a building comprised of bureaucracies, denominations, auxiliaries, and programs. The church is people—everyday people, down-to-earth people who are the “ecclesia” the “called out” ones.” They have (or we have) been called out of this sin-cursed world to perform a ministry to the people of the world, and only through the Holy Spirit we are enabled us to do so.
However, the church needs to recognize the fact that we are all tied together. There are no big I’s and little U’s within the church body. The angel of the church must do his level best to use each and every member that is willing do his or her part; he must be free of a judgment spirit. Paul puts it this way, “The eye cannot say to the hand that I have no need of thee” I’ve personally witness willing, able, and anointed members of a particular church just rusting away because of some wild, unfounded, unwarranted, and preconceived notion the pastor or another church leader had concerning them. I for one would rather wear out than rust out, but for the church to be alive and on fire every member needs to be involved.
I understand that there are those who satisfied with just sitting in the pews and are more comfortable as serving as one of the church’s spectators, but a good pastor can and should encourage the full participation of each and every member including the children (the future) of the church. The world is waiting for the church to stand up and give its testimony—the church that God has called out, the church that God has anointed, the church that God has appointed to bring about a revival to a world that is definitely hurting.
As a church what are we going to say to Him? We can’t do what You called us to do because of all the aforementioned outside group’s satanic enforced power over us? What a sad testimony that would be! What will our church leaders say to Him? I know that You are sitting on Your throne but I am also sitting on my earthly throne and I will be the one to decide who to use and not use when we come together as a church? If the church is to be alive and on fire it will take each and every one of us and not a carefully selected few who are more loyal to the pastor than are to God and the church.
2.) The Church Alive And On Fire Permits God’s Spirit To Move
In the church we are known for our programs and our special occasions and we have our way of doing things. But maybe, just maybe, we should allow our ways and those ol’ unbiblical traditions to die and then allow Jesus Christ move within our churches today. We ought allow the Holy Spirit to burn up some of the things we really have no need of and turn them into ashes.
We ought to lie them down at the feet of Jesus and say, “We are utterly helpless in this ministry without Your Spirit and Your power. Let us ask Him to burn out those things that have kept us from being the victors You want us to be. Burn out those things that have left us at the mercy of our archenemy the devil, those things that have left us beaten down, depressed, discouraged, dejected, defeated, and dying. It is increasing vital that the Holy Spirit and not ourselves be the One who lead us because for sure another force seeks to dominate us, a force that opposes the operation of the Holy Spirit. That other force is what the Scriptures calls “the flesh,” which refers to the sinful inclinations of our fallen flesh, the legacy of imperfection we have received as descendants of Adam. (Galatians 5: 17)
We ought to allow the Holy Spirit come and take control, let the Holy Spirit come and burn away those things that hurt us in the church today, gossip, backbiting, envy, jealousy, a judgmental and critical spirit, all the evil spirits running around in the world today should have absolutely no place in God’s house. We are in a war, a spiritual war and so we ought to throw out all our carnal weapons because, “…the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10: 4). In our spiritual warfare one of our main concerns should be the removal of the fortress that Satan has set up in our minds where our imaginations and thoughts reside.
And you do know that the battlefield of this spiritual war we are fighting is in the mind? That’s right! The battlefield is relatively small. It’s only about six inches wide, however it is the absolute worst battleground known to man. It is the space between your ears. Big battles, major battles are won and lost on the relatively small battlefield of the mind, and this is why the Apostle Paul has admonished us to cast down, “…imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” (2 Corinthians 10: 5).
Don’t be fooled, Satan is a crafty and powerful foe with his eyes focused on the destruction of God’s church. He wants to be an evil firefighter so to speak with his arsenal of water buckets that he uses put out the flames that need to burn, that must burn in our churches today. And there is only one power that can defeat and destroy the power of Satan in the church and He is the Holy Spirit.
3.) The Church Alive And On Fire Submits To God’s Power
When the church receives power it can bring down Satan’s strongholds and demolish the opposition. The word ‘authority’ (Gk. exousia) is often translated ‘power’ in
English Bibles. The word for ‘power’ (dunamis) means ability, i.e. strength to accomplish. True power is exercised under genuine authority, and God delegates the authority.
“He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1: 7 – 8). Do you remember Elijah vs. the Prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel?
In 1Kings 18: 24 we read, “…then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire—He is God." Then all the people said, "What you say is good." The prophets of Baal prayed vigorously, they tried their level best, they prayed and they cried, they even they cut themselves, they screamed, they were extremely emotional. However, let us skip to what it says in (verse 29), “Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.” That’s right, the Prophets of Baal were a bunch of failures.
How many times have we thought that if human methods used by the world are what we need in the church? And when this is done there is no response, no answer, and no attention that is being paid. Tragically, humanist thinking has influenced many if not most Christians. Because our world is strongly influenced by it, most of us even without realizing it have absorbed its values to some extent. Not many Christians even know what humanism is, or how it contradicts their Christian faith. Not only individual Christians, but also churches have accepted humanistic values, because we have not submitted to God’s power. It is the church that is alive and on fire for God who will receive rightfully His power.
Conclusion
Elijah in his battle with the Prophets of Baal left us with no doubt, that when God answers He answers by the fire. “Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” (1 Kings 18: 38-39).
Through Elijah we have learned that God would indeed destroy any and everything that would try to hinder Him. If you take time to read this whole episode you will see that they did everything they could to hinder God and His church, they poured water on the burnt offering, they flooded the altar, and it looked like God could not possibly answer—but with a simple prayer from Elijah, the fire came down.
God gave a mighty blast of burning fire that no amount of water could quench to let them know that it is still by the Holy Spirit that miracles come and resurrects the church; sets it on fire for the Lord. The church today still has its pessimisms, doubts, negative thoughts, and satanic hindrances.
A biblical scholar once said, “When a spirit of fire comes, someone will take a bucket of water and pour it on the fire that is burning. One will say, ‘I know we can do it’ another one will say, ‘No, it just can’t be done!’ And yet another one will say, ‘But the Lord wants us to move’ but another will come along with his bucket of water and try to put out the fire all the while saying, ‘We’ve never done this before!’ And as the anointing begins to fall, someone else will come along with his bucket and say ‘It’s just not our way of doing things around here’ at the annual or quarterly business meeting you will words like, ‘It can’t be done and we just don’t have the funds’ and all these words and phrases are simply buckets of water brought about by doubt, pessimism, and negativism.
The truth is, when the fire falls on the pulpit, it will then fall on the pew as well. The church will begin to recognize that God calls it out of the world because the world has nothing to do with it the church is separated from the world. You see God is purging the church today; the church is under God’s protection both day and night, with a “… cloud of smoke in the day and a bright flame of fire at night over every building and over every meeting of the people.” However, He wants the church to continue be the church and let those worldly things alone. He wants the church to be alive and on fire for Him and Him only. Amen
