Primary text Le 6:12-13 Keeper of the flame
Secondary text Acts 2:1-4
One of the most exciting and powerful things that happened on the day of Pentecost was every head got a flame.
I think one of our greatest failures as Christians is that so many fail to realize that God gives the flame, but it's our responsibility to keep, to tend the flame.
Our primary Scripture tells us that it was the responsibility of the priests to keep the fire burning on the altar.
They were responsible to remove the ashes, the waste, the old, and the expired and to add new wood.
We are New Testament priests and we are now the keepers of the flame.
It is our responsibility to provide fuel for the fire, it is also our responsibility to get rid of the trash, to get rid of anything that threatens to quench or hinder the flame.
We have to see to it that every day we provide a fresh supply of wood.
The Holy Ghost comes to us as a flame that can either grow and develop and become a devouring fire.
Or it can remain a small flicker, or he can actually be quenched till he cannot be seen or experienced at all.
Just being in church doesn't stoke your fire; just hearing the preaching of the Gospel does not add any Flame or fuel to your fire.
You can be in a place where miracles happen yet never receive a miracle.
You can be where the presence of God is and the power of God is moving and not be moved.
Not long ago my wife and I along with some other church friends; went to a brother and sister 's house for fellowship after church: and after we ate, we went outside to sing around the fire.
(But there wasn't any fire just a fire pit and a bunch of wood).
No matter how long we looked at it and thought about it and wished we had a fire nothing happened, nobody got warm no marshmallows got roasted until they put fire to the wood and even that wasn't enough they had to get some kindling and poor starter fluid all over the wood.
The same is true for you and I, we have to feed the fire, we have to add kindling and pour starter fluid all over it. That's something you have to do for yourself.
You say how do I do that?
1. You have to have the word that’s the kindling
2.You have to pray (pray until the Fire falls and then keep on praying until the flame begins to consume everything in your life)
Read the word, study the word, pray, praise, worship
(Pray in tongues, sing in tongues, worship in tongues.)
(You have to give yourself to the flame)
Romans 12 1-3 I beseech you therefore brother by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable in the God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world will be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good acceptable and perfect will of God.
The Scriptures tell us of a man named Joab he had a very important job he was the keeper of the Kings oil.
Whenever the King, or the Kings household needed oil they came to Joab he was in charge of the oil (oil was used for almost everything) oil was necessary for cooking
Oil was necessary for the lamps to keep the lamps burning.
Well that's what we are: we are keepers of the Kings oil.
Oil makes the Fire burn; the oil is the fuel of the fire
Being a keeper of the oil means:
1. To be sure that there is always oil available
2. To be sure that the oil is always fresh
3. To keep the oil free of contaminants.
The Bible says dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor. Ec 10:1
In other words dead things, carnal things, selfish things, fleshly things make the anointing stink.
It doesn't matter how anointed you are if you have carnality, fleshly things, earthly things (criticism, jealousy, envy, strife, debate, rebellion, anger, selfishness, stubbornness, resentment,) it causes the anointing to stink.
In other words: Your fleshly character can make your anointing, invalid, or undesirable.
And put a bad reflection on Christians.
The Christian is suppose to produce a sweet aroma: The Spirit of Christ is sweet, and pure, and honest, and precious, and draws people to Christ.
But a carnal, selfish, self-willed, critical, stubborn, argumentive Christian drives people away.
Many years ago kerosene lamps had to be tended to, first of all; they head have kerosene then they had to have the globe cleaned from time to time, because when the wick got burned instead of a beautiful clear light, it would smoke up the globe.
and finally, they had to have the wicks trimmed every so often.
The same is true for us we have to make sure we have oil in our lamps.
And we have to keep the wick trimmed we have to cut off and cut out the unnecessary the unprofitable the used, the old, the excess. And we have to keep the globe clean so people can clearly see the light in us, and not our fleshly nature.
Paul said and I'm paraphrasing: He said there are a lot of things I could do and probably even get by with it because it's not necessarily sin, but I have decided to do only that which is profitable to my spiritual life to do only that which serves to build and strengthen my faith and my relationship with God.
Solomon said by the Spirit of God: Let thy garments always be white and let thy head lack no ointment or anointing. Ec 9:8
The garments speak of the life that you live that others can see, the outward expression of the inward possession.
If you claim to have the Holy Spirit living in you: Then your life should show it.
David said thou anointest my head with oil. (Solomon said that your head should never be without the anointing.)
That means God is the one who anoints but it is our responsibility to get in position for that anointing, and to maintain it.
By:
Spending time in his presence
Getting into his word
Being in submission to his will
God doesn't anoint the stubborn head
The self-willed head
The rebellious head
The lazy head
One of the most important ways to keep the anointing in your life is to be in position in the body of Christ.
All of our anointing comes from Christ the anointed one who is the head of the Church; He is the head of the entire body of Christ.
Christ means: The anointed one
Then it flows down to the local body from the head of the local body or assembly. That is the pastor.
The anointing flows down from the head (the pastor) to the rest of the body, that's why it's so important to be in the body and to be positioned under the right head.
When you speak of the head you are speaking of vision and you are speaking of hearing and you are speaking of voice.
In other words God has made the pastor (The head) responsible for seeing Gods plan and hearing Gods instructions, and speaking his wisdom and his direction and his guidance for the local church.
That’s why I don’t listen to headless prophets: That’s means lone rangers, people who believe they are so spiritual and so anointed, and so advanced that they don’t need a pastor, they don’t think they need a head.
I don’t care if you are an Apostle, Prophet, Pastor, Teacher, Evangelist, Missionary or Janitor, You are part of the body of Christ and you need to be under a Pastor, a Overseer, a Shepherd, You need to be covered: That’s what the head is, the Head is a Covering to you.
That's why it matters where you go to church and who you sit under.
Because if the head is not anointed the body is not anointed.
That's why you don't want a dead head.
If the head is dead the whole body is dead
I would rather sit under a self-taught farm boy who has the anointing, than a seminary professor with more degrees than a thermometer but has no anointing.
Because Jesus said: it is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profits nothing.
And the apostle Paul said: the letter killeth but the spirit maketh alive.
It's not the degrees or education that makes alive, it's the anointing.
It’s the anointing that destroys the yoke, not physcology, or physiology, or even theology, it’s the (anointing).
I'm not putting down education or higher learning, I’m just saying that education is no substitute for the anointing.
Smith Wigglesworth said: if you're not moving forward you're backsliding, You're backsliding if you have to look back at your life to see a time when you were closer to God and more on fire for God, than you are today (then you have backslid).
Proverbs 4:18:The Bible says the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
That means our light, our fire, is supposed to get bigger and brighter all the time until we are completely consumed, completely on fire for God.
We were created for the fire
We were created to live in the fire
We were created to be creatures of fire
We were created to carry the fire
It is the plan of God and the will of God that everything that we touch catches on fire
Remember the flame?
His name was Johnny He was one character of the fantastic four (a cartoon show we used to watch) He would say: flame on and he would burst into flames!!! And He could fly while he was on fire, and he could throw fire, and everything he touched would catch on fire.
Look at your neighbor and say flame on.
In Ezekiel chapter 1:13-14
This man of God this prophet, this man who had his spiritual eyes open (had a vision).
Really it was more of a Revelation
It was an unveiling of a Spiritual reality that God was bringing into being.
Really it was a prophetic vision of the New Testament Church filled with the Holy Ghost and power.
In this vision, In this revelation he saw creatures of fire (He didn’t really understand what he was seeing but he just described it as he saw it in the spirit).
First he saw a great whirlwind of fire enfolding itself, it was a perpetual self feeding fire, Then he saw creatures moving around inside of the fire, then he saw what looked like streaks of lightning that would shoot out from the fire and then return to the fire. As he continued to see in this vision he recognized that what looked like streaks of lightning were actually the same living creatures that were moving around inside the fire.
This was a revelation of The Church when she is walking in her destiny
Just like those living creatures, we were created to live in the fire (The fire of God is our natural environment) and just like those living creatures we are to carry the fire of God everywhere we go.
Lightning speaks of two things (one) Speed, (two) Fire
That is an accurate description of the Holy Ghost filled fire Baptized, Spirit led child of God.
We are to move like lightning, with speed and accuracy and we are to be on fire everywhere we go.
Because We are Keepers of The Flame
