Ezekiel
20:47-48.."I am about to ignite a fire in you.."
Ignite-catch fire or cause to catch fire
Matthew 3:4-11 NLT "[4] John's clothes were woven from
coarse camel hair, (stylish) and he wore a leather
belt around his waist. (Very stylish) For food he ate locusts and wild
honey. (sounds like a great diet) [5] People from Jerusalem and from all
of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. [6] And
when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. [7] But
when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he
denounced them. "You brood of snakes!" he exclaimed. "Who warned
you to flee God's coming wrath? [8] Prove by the way you live that you have
repented of your sins and turned to God. [9] Don't just say to each other,
'We're safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.' That means nothing, for I tell
you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. [10] Even now
the ax of God's judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes,
every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown
into the fire. [11] "I baptize with water those who repent of their sins
and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am-so
much greater that I'm not worthy even to be his slave and carry His sandals. He
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."
• We
find a man here in the word John the Baptist who was definitely on the best
dressed list of all the bible, I think it would have been uncomfortable and
itchy he wore a camel's hair tunic and a belt, ate locusts and honey.
• I
dig this guy he wore what he want, he ate what he wanted to, preached where he
wanted to and everyone came to him.
• He
wasn't trying to get to where everyone was he didn't try to say oh please come
and listen to me, no he just preached but something about what he was saying
was so intense, so enticing, so drawing that in vs. 5 it says that Jerusalem,
Judea, and all over the Jordan Valley came to see, hear him and be baptized.
• They
said to the last guy turn the lights out when you leave we're going.
• They
all went out to where he was, they wanted to hear what he was saying they
wanted to "experience" what was going on.
• Sometimes
you gotta go somewhere to get what God wants to give you.
• You
can't just sit around waiting on Him, He's waiting on you.
• Put
your faith into action.
• You
have to go after it if you want to get what God has.
Vs.11 Matthew 3:11 NLT [11] "I baptize with water
those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who
is greater than I am-so much greater that I'm not worthy even to be his slave
and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with
fire."
• What
John the Baptist is saying is I can point you towards God and you need that,
you need to repent of your sins, you need to get things right.
• I
can point you towards Him but there is one who is coming who literally carries
the presence of God and He can bring God to you and when He brings the presence
of God it's gonna be like a blazing fire.
• It's
interesting it doesn't just say that you'll experience the Holy Spirit he says,
"and fire."
• Why
is that in there?
• You
see right throughout the bible it speaks of the fire of God.
• In
the Old Testament in Leviticus every time it says to bring an offering to God
it says let it be an offering with fire.
• Never
let the fire go out.
• There's
something about fire that symbolizes God.
• Right
through to Revelation where in 4:5 it speaks of the 7 lamps of fire which
represent the spirits of God that literally God is like a fire.
• Acts
2 after Jesus come and died for all humanity, then rose again from the dead He
says I'm going but I'm going to send the Holy Spirit.
• Then
the Spirit comes and it says that literally there appeared amongst the people
on them like tongues of fire.
• So
many times in scripture when the presence of a God is mentioned it speaks of it
like a fire.
Hebrews 12:28-29 "[29] For our God is a consuming
fire."
• The
presence of God is like fire it's a way that the bible uses to explain and show
a little bit of what the character of a God is.
• When
you walk with Jesus you walk with His fire in you and on you.
• There
should be fire about you, there should be a fire burning on the inside.
• So
what does Gods fire do?
• What
does it do in our life?
• Why
does the bible explain God as a consuming, devouring fire?
• Why
does John the Baptist use this word fire?
• I
think because it helps us to understand what God wants to do in and through our
life.
1.
Fire gives you energy.
1.
Fire gives you energy not just for
anything but for the purpose of God.
2.
Most of us came here by car, bus,
golf cart, van, plane, or train they all used fire.
1.
Hopefully your car was not on fire.
3.
In the engine there are a number of
cylinders, inside those cylinders are little ignitions of fire that give your engine
the ability to push your car forward.
4.
If there is no fire you are going no
where.
1.
It's like having a really nice car in
the garage but never doing anything with it.
2.
It looks good, you can know all about
it.
1.
That's exactly what happens to some people
about the purpose of God.
2.
They can know the word, they can
explain the purpose of God, who He
is and find it in scripture but they are doing nothing with it, nothing with
Him.
3.
We need some people who've got some
fire burning on the inside that's causing you to go where you've gotta go.
4.
There are people out there who are
going to criticize you, hassle you, harass you, haggle you about having faith
in God but keep pushing, keep feeding the fire, keep fueling your spirit.
Isaiah 40:29-31 NLT [29] He gives power to the weak and
strength to the powerless."
5.
When the fire of God gets in you what
looked like an insurmountable task what looked impossible and way beyond you
something changes completely when the fire of God shows up.
2.
Fire refines.
1.
Burns away the sin and the impurities
in our lives.
1.
For Gold to be of it's maximum value
you gotta heat it up.
2.
Melt it down, imperfections come to
the surface you get rid of them and start the process again.
3.
There is a purity that comes from the
fire.
4.
We don't always like it when God
begins to pinpoint something in our lives that He wants us to correct but it's
the very thing that's holding you back from doing the impossible.
2.
You can't have the fire of God in one
area of your life and it not affect all areas.
1.
Hot or cold.
1.
When it's hot it's gonna deal with
the bad stuff to make more room for the good stuff.
2.
When you deal with those things the
fire of God will refine you and you'll shine with brilliance.
3.
When you say God I will step out and
get involved the refining fire of God begins it's work.
4.
Keep fueling it.
1.
God it's not about me it's about
others, you can work in and through my life, do what you need to do to use me
for your honor.
2.
I'm not gonna give up, I'm not gonna
give in I will feed the fire of God so I can be all God has called me to be.
3.
Let the fire burn inside of you, burn
away the mess, the drama, the sin, the attitudes, the fears, the insecurities,
the hurts, habits, and hang-ups of our lives
3.
Fire gives warmth.
1.
Jesus many times talked about the
one.
1.
The fire of God brings warmth to
those that are lost, to those that are cold, to those that are alone.
2.
You might be in this place and you
might feel like that.
1.
No one can understand what you are
dealing with, going through or have experienced, but God is here and He desires
to bring healing, peace, comfort and love to your brokenness with the fire of
His surrounding, embracing, forgiving arms.
2.
Giving you hope and strength in your
situation.
Mark 2:17 NLT [17] When Jesus heard this, he told them,
"Healthy people don't need a doctor-sick people do. I have come to call
not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are
sinners."
3.
If you want the fire of God to warm
you, to heal you, to restore you, you've got to say God I need it, God I need
you.
4.
If you say in yourself well I've got
it all covered, all sorted out then you are not going to experience God but if
you are there saying God I need what you have for me you will be overwhelmed
with His fire.
4.
Fire is completely unpredictable.
1.
There should be something
unpredictable about your life.
1.
If you've met the creator of the
universe there should be nothing boring about you.
2.
God created everything and He is
creative so that makes me creative.
1.
The clouds are the dust of His feet
the earth is His footstool, He shaped the mountains with His hands, carved the
rivers with His fingers, flung the stars into the sky and calls them by name.
2.
Fire is unpredictable you don't know
where it's gonna go or what it's going to do.
1.
They have accounts of fires blazing
so strong that they have literally jumped highways, rivers, and valleys to get
to more destruction with nothing to slow it down or disable it.
2.
That's the kind of fire I want in my
life.
1.
Jesus lived unpredictable.
5.
Fire gives light which overwhelms the
darkness.
John 1:4-5 NLT "[4] The Word gave life to everything
that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. [5] The light shines
in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."
1.
You might be facing some dark things,
the fire of God can bring light into the midst of your world.
2.
I was thinking about how cameras used
to be, everything is now digital but cameras with film.
Illustrate here: pull out a roll
of film.
1.
If you still have one of those hang
on to it they will pay you for it and put it in a museum some day.
3.
But these cameras with film, the film
was always called a negative.
1.
And your negative you developed in a
dark room.
1.
It's how some people live their life.
2.
They take a whole lot of pictures of
life and it's all negative.
3.
Then they go into the dark room where
they develop the negative.
1.
Which is a picture of their life.
2.
But you see in the middle of
developing the negative some silly crazy individual opens the door and it lets
in the light and what is the light gonna do to the negative?
1.
It's gonna destroy the negative...
1.
And that's exactly what Jesus does He
comes into the dark places and destroys the negative picture of your life and
shows you what your life can be.
2.
He wants to show you what your life
can be.
1.
Jesus isn't afraid of the dark.
2.
The dark is afraid of Jesus.
1.
Just like the boogeyman He checks His
closet for Chuck Norris every night.
4.
There might be darkness in your world
right now and I believe that's why your here is so that God can show you His
light, His fire.
5.
They say it gets darkest just before
the daylight and it might seem really dark to you but God's fire brings light
that overwhelms the darkness.
1.
It has to flee.
1.
The darkness runs away from the
light, it has too, it's made to.
2.
When you open your heart and life to
God you literally expose your life to His light and it overwhelms the darkness.
6.
Fire makes a scene.
1.
It draws people to it.
1.
If you make a bonfire you can watch
it for hours I think they call it the camping television.
2.
There is something captivating about
its way, it's strength, it's light.
2.
John Wesley said words to this this
affect "Set me on fire God that people may come and watch me
burn."
1.
Something happens when the fire of
God is upon you.
2.
The fire of God upon you will make a
difference in your life, in your home, in you school, on your job, in your
church, in your community, and in the globe, I believe it.
1.
People will want it.
7.
Fire changes whatever it comes in
contact with.
1.
You can tell where a fire has been.
2.
Things are never the same when a fire
comes through.
1.
Fire has an effect upon the
environment and literally promotes new growth.
2.
In fact they say that during a fire
that there are some seeds that won't open until the intensity of a blazing fire
comes through to crack open that husk to release the seed into new growth.
1.
Fire brings change, there are some of
you that have seeds of dreams, seeds of growth, seeds of impact, seeds of your
destiny, seeds of the greatness that God has placed inside if you that have
been lying dead and dormant for too long.
8.
Fire is no respecter of people.
1.
A beautiful mansion or an old tin
shed doesn't matter what's in the path of that fire it will soon be fuel.
1.
Where ever Jesus went, whatever the
disease, what ever the ailment, what ever the sickness, what ever the demon it
didn't matter just like fire, it doesn't care as long as there is fuel the fire
is gonna burn.
1.
Daniel & Jamie.
2.
Where there is faith on the inside
whatever is in the path of the fire of God is going to receive something of
change from that fire.
1.
Fuel the fire.
2.
When faith is ignited there is no
limit to what God can do.
9.
Your life is fuel to the fire.
1.
Your life is fuel to the cause.
2.
Your life is fuel to the purpose of
God.
Illustrate here: bring logs to the fire.
1.
Bring yourself to the fire.
2.
Bring yourself to the cause.
3.
Show up to keep it burning.
1.
Bring that abuse.
2.
Bring that frustration.
3.
Bring that fear.
4.
Bring that insecurity.
5.
Bring that failure.
6.
Bring that sin.
7.
Bring more of you.
Jeremiah 29:11 NLT "[11] For I know the plans I have
for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for
disaster, to give you a future and a hope."
1.
The Devil has plans to destroy you,
has plans for your demise, has plans to distract you, God has a plan for you
that's good, that's not for disaster, that gives us a future and a hope.
1.
Never let the fire go out.
