Talking to Someone Who Gives You Heartburn
PPT 1 title
There are people that just the thought of them can make you feel uncomfortable. We all know people like that. If I were to ask when is the last time you talked to someone who gave you heartburn, I wouldn't be surprised if someone said it happened in the car this morning. Just kidding.
Heartburn is usually also called acid reflux, where some of your stomach acids get up into your esophagus which is not really the place those things ought to be. And it burns.
Our bodies are amazing with the processes that go on, beneath the surface and the conscious level. It is also amazing to know that parts of me can handle acid that the rest of me wants nothing to do with. Parts of me can handle human waste that would kill me if it got into other parts of me. It's a good thing we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
So let's talk briefly talk about heartburn.
Heartburn is a condition that is uncomfortable and can produce a measure of fear. You wonder if the pain is a heart problem or a digestion problem. Either one can send you to the hospital in a panic. My intention today is not talk about people who give you negative heartburn, but people who give us good heartburn. We can get heartburn from secondary and from primary sources. (I'll explain)
So I want to talk about the One who gives heartburn, that makes you come alive.
God is looking for people who will become living burning bushes, that will cause others to turn aside and be changed.
PPT 2 text
Luke 24:32 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?
Fire has always been a symbol of God's ability to energize, illuminate, captivate, and to do so with absolutely no harm. The first example in the bible would be Moses when He meets God at the burning bush. Moses is amazed to find the bush is on fire but wasn't being damaged at all. In that meeting He talked with God, and though the bible doesn't exactly say it this way, Moses Himself caught fire. The fire he caught was that the Jewish people would be set free from slavery. Moses caught fire with the fire that burned in God's own heart.
You see when you get around someone whose heart is on fire, it tends to spread. Have you ever talked to someone whose heart is on fire? We are going to briefly look at a couple people today who did. My prayer is that if you have never had a heart fire talk with God, that you will leave this place with one, or filled with desire that you will, because I know that if people hunger and thirst for righteousness they will be filled. I also want to challenge those who already know Jesus, when is the last time you had a talk with Him that set your heart on fire? I believe He wants to do it again for you.
For me my first encounter with heart fire was on the streets of San Francisco Ca, in January of 1974...
I was 18 years old, in the US Navy waiting to get transferred to Japan. One day I went into town and on Market Street in San Francisco there was a man preaching on a corner. Actually there were all kinds of things going on, on Market Street then. The Hare Krishna's were out, the pan handlers etc. It was the usual chaos of San Francisco in the early 70's. But there was something different about the man preaching. All I heard him say was, "there is a burning in my heart to get this message to you." My usual attitude towards Christians at that time in my life was to ignore them, I didn't want change the way I was living. But there was something about that man and that day, and I knew it, though I didn't quite understand it at the time. It was if the source of that burning fire in his heart was reaching out to me. I couldn't shake the feeling that he was there that day so that I would hear what he had to say. Within nine months I would have an encounter with the one who filled that mans heart with fire, and I would know for myself what it is to have a burning in your heart. It was the burning love of the Lord Jesus Christ. That man for me was secondary fire, but he pushed me in the direction of the primary source of that fire - God Himself.
I want us to look at some scriptures, and it may not say it, but I believe in each of these instances people came into contact with the One Whom even His feet burn and glow as if they have been in a furnace of fire. In each of these situations we will see people whose lives were radically changed because they talked to the One Who gives heartburn.
First up, the tax collector.
PPT 4 text
Matthew 9:9 Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, "Come along with me." Matthew stood up and followed him.
Who can do that? Walk into a place of employment and say to someone follow me, and the person immediately quits their job and leaves their old life behind? What manner of man is this? No wonder when the religious leader sent their police squad to arrest Jesus, they came back empty handed and when asked why no arrest was made their defense was, "never a man spake as this man spake." (John 7:46)
Now the rich guy.
PPT 5 text
Luke 19:7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'inner'"
Luke 19:8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
What possessed Zacchaeus to say he would give half his possessions to the poor? What could have possibly happened that he would publicly declare that if he cheated anyone he would pay them back fourfold? Who has that kind of impact on a person? Who can so radically rearrange a persons life in so short a time? The one with eyes are a flame of fire, and whose words are spirit and life, that's who.
Now the unhappy divorcee
PPT 6 text
John 4:28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city, and *said to the men,
John 4:29 "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?"
Married 5x's and shacking up. Jesus called her out on it, not to condemn her but to show her how thoroughly He knew her, and that rocked her world. She left her water pot, and ran into town with her heart on fire. She left the ordinary course of her life because she had met the extraordinary one.
Secondary fire.
A fire that starts in once place often leads to a fire in another place, and here we have the unhappy divorcee becoming a flaming evangelist for Jesus.
PPT 7 text
John 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to Him, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
John 4:41 And many more believed because of His word;
John 4:42 and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world."
They came out of curiosity because they could tell the woman had been visibly impacted by Jesus. Kind of like Moses where it says:
PPT 8 Text
Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.
Exodus 3:3 So Moses said, "I must turn aside now, and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up."
But they weren't content with second hand fire. So they stayed with Him, talked with Him, and left with their own hearts full of fire.
Where are you at this morning? Has your heart been impacted by the Burning One? Does the glow linger or has time diminished it. Could he ask you to leave your job, or give up your goods, or leave your water pot? The amount of fire and fervor you have for Him, will determine how you would answer those questions should he ask. Do you need to return to your first love? Or are you a person who only knows Jesus through the lives of people you have met who have been impacted by Him. You are trying to live on secondhand fire. Secondhand fire it's purpose is to lead you to the true source which is Jesus.
A long time ago I was thinking about the change that came into my life because I got Holy heartburn, and I just began to use different letters of the alphabet to describe that change. Here is some of what I did, with the hope that it may rekindle or start a hunger in you...
I have been Cuffed by the Christ of Calvary, the Catalyst of Conversion, the Controller of the Cosmos, the Conveyor of Contrition, the Consecrator of His Consorts, the Creator who Causes the Curse to be Canceled, who Comforts, Cares, Consoles, and is a Confident Confidant
I have been Delivered by the Designer who Declares Defendants Deserving of Death Dismissed from that Disturbing Destiny, He Delights in the Development of Disciples, Decides the Day of your Death, is Designated to depose and destroy the devil, disgorging that defunct denizen of Darkness, Demonstrating the Deputation of the Daystar in a Decisive Display of Divinity
I have been Engulfed by the Ever living Esteemed Elder who has Electrified, Energized, and Engraved me as His Envoy to Enlist Every Entity in Eternity.
I have been Harnessed by Heaven's Holy Helper, who Has High Hopes of Happiness for His Heirs, and wHose Hand Holds - However Hard that Heinous Hound of Hell, that Hapless Hater of Holiness, Happens to Heave on the Harness.
I have been Purchased by the Prevailer who is the Power that Permeates my Person, the Principle that Purifies my Passions, Properly Propels my Propensities, Purges my Penchants, Pervades my Proclivities, and Positively Pardons and Permutes my Putridity, Pugnacity, and the Prodigality of my Personality.
I have been Ransomed by the Redeemer who Rescues from Rotten Rivers of Revolting Rapacious, Revelry, Raiding the Realm of Rebellion, Ravishing His Reclaimed Reformee's with Royal Refinements
I have been Taken by the Tender One who Transforms Traitors and Tyrants and Translates Them from the Temptors Treachory That They may Thoroughly Triumph
I have one last passage of scripture and then I will close:
PPT 8 text
John 12:20 There were some Greeks in town who had come up to worship at the Feast.
John 12:21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
In this passage Jesus confronts the reality that His time is almost up, and in response to this request of the Greeks He tells them that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies...
He is telling them, there are a lot of people who need what I have, it will be your job to spread the fire after I ascend to heaven. May we live in such a way that Jesus can continue to impact people through us. May we be able to say that there is a fire in our heart to preach this gospel, and may God energize it to the saving of souls.
Sir we would see Jesus. Is that your prayer?
