A. W. Tozer and he was quite critical of churches that did not have any real expectation of God’s healing power in their midst. He said this: “In many churches, Christianity has been watered down until the solution is so weak that if it were poison it would not hurt anyone and, if it were medicine, it would not cure anyone.”
When God told Abraham to take his son, his only son Isaac to a certain mountain and to sacrifice him.
When they arrived at the mountain, and Isaac looked around and he seen something missing.
Now, Isaac knew there had to be 3 things to have a sacrifice: wood, fire, and a lamb.
And the bible says, And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb?
Now thousands of years later, we to are missing something
We have the wood-Cross of Calvary
We have the Lamb-Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God
But, where is the fire?
The fire that consumes us?
Exodus 3:2-And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed
Duet. 4:24-For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Romans 12:11-Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;(NKJV)
Fervent-showing passionate enthusiasm
Glowingly hot: glowing as a result of intense heat
Romans 12:11-Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.(NLT)
Two areas of our life that should consume us!!
1-God’s Word!!!
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?”
Burn-Means to kindle, be set on fire, consumed with.
When we are on fire and consumed with God we are going to have that intimate relationship He desires with us.
When we spend time in God’s word, getting to know God and His word, we will get closer to Him, and that fire, that passion, that desire, will begin to grow!
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.
When we draw close to Him, that is what happens, His word is inside of us and it has to come out!
We can’t help but share the greatest event that has ever happened to us!!
2-God’s House-Church!!
Psalm 69:9-Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up,
If you have to be dragged to church, or coerced into coming to church, then there is something spiritually wrong!!
If my car starts missing, I put it in the shop to see what is wrong with it, because I know that in the long term, if I don’t fix it today, it will cost me more in the long run.
It is the same way in your life, when you start missing, (Missing church, missing reading your bible, missing your quiet time), you need church for a tune up, and if you don’t your going to pay for it in the long run.
I was burning brush and I noticed that as long as the limbs was near the most intense flame, they stayed burning, but the moment they fell away, the flames went out, no matter how hot they had been before.
If we are going to have zeal, enthusiasm, excitement, and be on fire for God, then we are going to have to stay close to God!!!
A zealous person whether they live, or whether they die ;whether they have health, or whether they has sickness; whether they are rich, or whether they are poor; whether they pleases people, or whether they give offence; whether they thought to be wise, or whether they are thought to be foolish; whether they get blame, or whether they get praise; whether they get honor, or whether they gets shame; for all this the zealous person cares nothing at all.
They burn for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God's glory. They feel, like a lamp, they are made to burn; and if consumed in burning, they have done the work for which God appointed them.
