Church on Fire
#thegreatresetseries
This Weekly Prayer Summary was written by Devi Susanto, from the CBC English Prayer Ministry, and edited by Brigitta Tedja
Watch full sermon here.
Pastor Dion opened his sermon by sharing one of his experiences growing up in Indonesia. He loved playing with fire until one day, he obtained a second-degree burn on his right foot and limped for a few months. If you play with fire, you will experience fire, but that was a bad fire. Today, he shared about good fire: the fire from Heaven, which is the fire of God that every believer should have. The Bible is filled with many interesting stories about fire. How many of you remember Moses experiencing God the first time by meeting Him through the burning bush? This fire stayed with him as he brought the Israelites and traveled to the Promised Land going through the wilderness for 40 years. Every night what they saw outside was a pillar of fire that did not kill them. This fire protected them from wild animals and protected them from the cold of the night. Now, as we are talking about the Church on fire, I want to start with Scripture that is more like a cautionary word for the Church of God. This is not just a rebuke, but this is an invitation.
Revelation 3:14-21 NLT “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation: “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked . . . I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”
Laodicea was one of the most prosperous cities during the Roman empire. It was so prosperous that they had one of the largest banking industries. They also had an unusual textile industry that produced black wool. Laodicea had a medical school and produced ear and eye medicine, creating a powder made out of zinc to cure eye disease which was revolutionary at that time. In the year 60 AD, a big earthquake leveled the city. The Romans wanted to provide funding to this city so that they could rebuild, but Laodicea said “no” because they were so rich. Why is this important? This can speak about our nation right now. America is one of the most prosperous nations in the world. How many of you, after you moved to America, you felt God blessed you more than you were prospering before? It is a good land that is filled with milk and honey, not just confined to Israel. The Bible states that as we honor God, that principle of blessing also applies to this nation.
Many of us might avoid the Book of Revelation, especially after a warning like this, but Pastor Dion wanted us to hear and catch the heart of God. God is not about rebuking you. If you make a mistake, God loves you, but He corrects you so that you can turn and be blessed. He is patiently knocking and waiting for our response, and He said, “I will come and have a meal together as friends.” So, looking back to what Pastor Dion said earlier about Laodicea, a city may be prosperous and rich, but the Christians in this city seemed to have spiritual poverty. We are living in this prosperous land; Pastor Dion wanted to make sure that you are not just prospering just in the natural sense, but are you also prospering spiritually.
Are you on fire for God? This is an invitation from God. God said either be hot or cold but do not be in the middle. Pastor Dion said earlier, he interacted with fire and got burned. Moses experienced the burning bush and God manifested Himself in fire. Moses lived on fire for God. He was interceding for the people of God. How can that be? Because Pastor Dion believed the fire of God changed Moses. Our God is the consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:28-29 NKJV “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”
Pastor Dion believed that at the time of his sermon, God will touch us and God will speak to us. Below are the three things we need to do to be on fire with God, to not be dry.
1. Jesus Expects Every Believer to Live on Fire!
Matthew 3:11 NKJV “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
It is abnormal for Christians to live in dryness. In God’s dictionary, there should not be any lukewarmness or indifference. Pastor Dion believes that God wants to impart a new fire. How to be on fire for God?
1 Chronicles 21 NLT “Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel. So, David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the people of Israel—from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north—and bring me a report so I may know how many there are.” But Joab replied, “May the Lord increase the number of his people a hundred times over! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this? Are they not all your servants? Why must you cause Israel to sin?’ But the king insisted that they take the census . . .
God was very displeased with the census, and he punished Israel for it. David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth with his sword drawn, reaching out over Jerusalem. So, David and the leaders of Israel put on burlap to show their deep distress and fell face down on the ground. And David said to God, ‘I am the one who called for the census! I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done? O Lord my God, let your anger fall against me and my family, but do not destroy your people.’
Then the angel of the Lord told Gad to instruct David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And when David prayed, the Lord answered him by sending fire from heaven to burn up the offering on the altar.”
Therefore, God loved David, and if you want to experience more of God, take and learn from David’s character.
2. Fire Always Falls on Sacrifice on the Altar; It Is a Response to Prayer
To be on fire for God, you need to build an altar. An altar is a place of exchange. You provide something of value to offer. Do you pray and communicate with God every day? Do you have a habit of reading the Scriptures every day? Fire does not come from nothing. Fire always comes down for a sacrifice.
When was the last time you met God? Are you God’s living sacrifice? Sacrifice always hurts and can be very painful. It always costs you something.
What happens here during praise and worship is a sacrifice to God—a sacrifice of praise. If we want to be on fire, we have to give. Sacrifice is not pleasant. Stop thinking that God will entertain you. We are to give God willingly. To remain on fire, we must present our bodies as a living sacrifice, to live daily as a living sacrifice involves an every-moment-decision on whether you want to honor God or not.
Romans 11:33-12:2 MEV “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable are His ways! For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever! Amen. I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Hebrews 13:15 MEV “Through Him, then, let us continually offer to God the sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
3. God Started the Fire, but it Is My Daily Responsibility to Keep it Burning
Leviticus 6:8-13 NLT “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give Aaron and his sons the following instructions regarding the burnt offering. The burnt offering must be left on top of the altar until the next morning, and the fire on the altar must be kept burning all night.
Meanwhile, the fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must never go out. Each morning the priest will add fresh wood to the fire and arrange the burnt offering on it. He will then burn the fat of the peace offerings on it. Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out.”
If you like camping or cooking with charcoal, the fire dies down naturally due to time, unless it is continually fanned. The spiritual principle is the same, you cannot sustain the fire only after one encounter with God. If you are currently in the wilderness, when was the last time you talked to God intimately and thanked Him? When was the last time you sacrificed something to the Lord? This is why many Christians are not on fire, because we need to do these things daily. We need to refill our hearts with the Holy Spirit and to love Him daily. If we want to remain on fire, we must be the one bringing God’s fire into our lives. How to remain on fire? The “logs” to keep the fire burning is to talk to God, read the Word, and study the Scriptures.
Luke 24:13-35 MEV “Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they communed and reasoned together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. He said to them, ‘What kind of communication are you sharing with one another while you are walking and are sad?’
He said to them, ‘O fools! And slow of heart to believe what the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter His glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
As He sat at supper with them, He took the bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. And He vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the way and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
2 Timothy 1:6 MEV “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you by the laying on of my hands.”
Jude 1:20 ESV “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.”
Speaking in tongues edifies us. There are times when we do not know what else to pray. Speaking in tongues is the groanings of the Spirit. We need to fan into flame, the gift of God, and build ourselves up by praying in the Holy Spirit. The gift must be fanned, it must be given opportunity to grow. If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can no longer be lazy.
Acts 1:8 ESV “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Another key to fan the flame is that we need to witness to someone about the goodness of God in your lives.
In summary, we need to build an altar, there must to be a sacrifice on the altar, and there must be prayer that invites that fire to come upon our lives.
“Get on fire for God and men will come and see you burn.” — John Wesley
Prayer Points:
Pray for the Holy Spirit to baptize us afresh with the fire of God
Pray to set our hearts on fire and to long for Jesus
Pray for us to be able to practice how to build an altar, how to make ourselves His living sacrifice, and pray to bring the fire of God to come down into our lives
Pray to rebuke every spirit of lukewarmness and dryness in our lives and deliver us from spiritual sleep and slumber
Pray that the fire of God will burn away anything that hinders God’s presence in our lives
Pray to take us to next and higher level in relationship with God
Pray, declare, and decree that everyone in our household will serve the Lord fervently in Jesus’ name