I first want to thank Brother Ron and Brother Buddy for agreeing to do this three Church Revival. I also want to thank you the members of Union, Magee’s creek and Holly Springs for being here tonight. Maybe your not the ones who need to here tonight’s message, but maybe you are.
It was Brother Ron’s idea to make the theme about Fire. Did you know the word fire is used some 510 times in the King James translation of the Bible? It is used in good ways and in bad. The bottom line is this fire is one of the most powerful forces on earth.
Also did you know that in order to have fire you must have three things come together in a chain reaction. You need heat, fuel and oxygen, and if you take away any one of the three the fire will begin to go out.
I would offer you that if you want to be on fire for the Lord you need three things; you need God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Take away any one of the three and you will become like the Church at Laodicea, you will only be lukewarm at best. So with that said let’s take a look at Revelation 3: 14 through 18. Again we will look at Revelation 3:14-18, when you find that please stand as you are able for the reading of God’s Holy Word. Again our text will come from Revelation 3:14-18, here is what it says: And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
Now if you have a red letter bible you will see that these words are all in red, meaning they are coming from the mouth of Jesus.
Tonight I want to take a look at maybe the most well known disciple to follow Jesus. I want us to take a look at Peter. The Peter that Jesus said he would build His Church upon. And as we look at Peter we will see that it took some doing to really set him on fire for the Lord.
Peter first meets Jesus through his brother Andrew. We find this in John 1:40-42: One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).
I just love how Jesus is already laying the foundation for Peter to become the rock or stone on which He establishes His Church.
But what we should notice is that Peter or Simon as he is known at this time had only heard about John the Baptist through his brother Andrew. So what do we learn from that? Well we can easily see that he knew God, that he knew who God was and that God had been active in the lives of his people for hundreds of years.
But that’s about it. Simon was a simple fisherman. He was strong and somewhat brash; he’s often portrayed as being impetuous, always speaking his mind and acting on impulse. But then something happens. Let’s pick up part of that story in Matthew 4:18-20: And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
So it is here that Peter begins his journey, that he begins to warm us, he is lukewarm if you will. It is here that Peter truly begins the process of figuring out who this Rabbi or teacher really is. Now hang with me because as we continue to follow Peter we will see that as he comes to know the Christ he begins to warm us, some would say that he actually is on fire for the Lord.
As we continue through this journey I will be using a lot of scripture so I will attempt to slow down so that you can jot them down. However most of it will probably be well known to you.
It’s in Luke 5:2-11 where we see Peter truly begin to follow Jesus. This is where Jesus steps into Peter’s boat and tells him to put out from shore. Peter does so and Jesus begins to teach the multitudes from the boat. When he finishes teaching he tells Peter to go further out and cast their nets. But what does Peter do, he tells Jesus they had fished all night and caught nothing. Basically he was whining and complaining.
But he does so anyway. And when he cast out the nests they catch so much fish he needed help from the other boats to carry them all. Great story right? But the main point comes next. After this happens Peter says this in verse 8: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” It’s pretty easy to see that Peter is not on fire yet.
Man so when is he finally going to catch fire and do something for Jesus. Okay let’s fast forward to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is in the Gospel of John 18:10 where we read this: Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
Finally Peter is showing some signs of catching fire. In fact just before this Peter had told Jesus that he would never forsake him. Peter was on fire, this is the Peter that Jesus envisioned when he renamed him Cephas. Or was it?
We all can recall how just a few short hours later that Peter not once, not twice but even three times denied ever knowing Jesus. So now Peter has gone cold again.
You know it is often the same for us isn’t it? We get on fire for God, we set out to do great things and then something happens in our lives and the fire goes out. But thank God that it can be rekindled. And we will see that in just a few minutes with Peter. But before we do, I want to show you that Peter has lost his fire.
We see this in John 21. This is after Jesus had shown himself to the disciples. In fact they had seen him several times before the breakfast by the sea.
Some biblical scholars say that when Peter is going fishing that he is going to fish for men. However by reading our text we see that he and the others again had fished all night and caught nothing. Peter even though he had seen the resurrected Jesus had still lost his fire, his zeal. That’s one of the reason why Jesus takes him aside and ask him three times does Peter love Him. Of course we know that Peter says yes. But let’s take a look at what Jesus tells Peter that he needs to do.
Jesus tells Peter that he needs to feed His lambs, to tend His sheep, and the third time He tells Peter to feed His Sheep.
Do you know the difference between a lamb and a sheep? Actually it’s nothing. A lamb is a sheep that is less than a year old. Jesus is telling Peter that he is to care for everyone, that all are sacred to Jesus. Man I love it Peter is beginning to warm up again isn’t he. But he’s not on fire yet.
So when does it happen? Remember what I said earlier, in order to be on fire we need God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Up to this point Peter had forgotten what Jesus had told him and the disciples before his crucifixion, he had forgotten that he would receive the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now bear with me for a minute as we look closer at the Holy Spirit. There are those that say that the bible contradicts itself because of what Jesus does in John 20:22. Here is what it says: And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Now once again those are red letter words spoken from Jesus himself, so they must be true right? Of course there true, but to understand this we must also look at John 16:7-10 where Jesus tells his disciples this: 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;
You see what is happening is Jesus is preparing them. He reminds them the power of the Holy Spirit doesn’t kick in until he is gone. And boy do we see it kick in, in Acts 2. This is the day known as Pentecost. Where Peter fulfills that role in becoming the rock on which Jesus builds his Church.
In Acts2:38 Peter says this: Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
Yes brothers and sisters Peter is now on fire. But the biggest question of the night is are you?
You may know God, you have heard of him all your life, you may have even invited Jesus into your heart, but you have not let the Holy Spirit work through you.
Over the last year I have lost many people who I love deeply, gladly I know they were saved, I know that they had some fire about them. However I do not know all of you here tonight, I do not know your situation. But what I do know is we are not promised another second, so if you do not know God, if you have not invited Jesus into your heart which enables you to receive the power of the Holy Spirit I invite you to come and talk with me or with Brother Ron or Brother Buddy.
If you are saved but your fire is barely burning, man now is the time to reignite that flame, now is the time to come and get right with God. If you are hurting and need prayer you come, if you are in need of the saving grace of God you come, if you are in need of Love come and meet the God who loves you enough that He gave his son for you.
Pray as led.
