Church on Fire! Faith Service Worship Vision
Acts 4:31-33
14 June 2011
What does “to be on fire for God” mean? Can you describe what it looks like? Are you on fire? The village atheist was not a bad man, he just didn’t believe. He was not interested in church... and there was only 1 in the area. It was cold and dead— it was more a social club than a place of worship. One day the church building caught on fire, and the whole village ran toward it to help extinguish the flames... including the village atheist! Someone shouted out: “Hey, this is something new for you, the first time we’ve ever seen you running to church!” He replied, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen the church on fire!”
Is the 21st century church on fire? I’m sure we can all name churches that are not on fire, many of us have had personal experience of being in a cold, dead church, with no fire. A lack of fire can be manifested in many ways: n
the person who stands to sing who is obviously just going through the motions, and their heart is not in it
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door stewards or greeters who find it impossible to smile
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Sunday school teachers who go to church to teach others on a Sunday morning and would never think of going to an Evening Service so that they can be fed too.
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People who rush in and rush out and then complain that nobody cares about them, when they make no effort to be in relationship with others.
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The person who calls themselves a Christian, yet never prays, never reads the Bible, never tithes, and never actually goes to church.
Stuck in the past? Do you long for the “good old days”? Those who focus on what they “used to be,” usually “aren’t,” and “never will be!” Whether good or bad, focusing on the past ruins the present and destroys the future.
Do we need new people to set the church on fire or do we need some fire so that there will be new people? Why don’t we see more people saved in the modern church? Can God entrust us with new converts? Charles Spurgeon said: “To put new converts into most churches is like putting live chicks under a dead hen.” In Genesis 22: God told Abraham to take his son, Isaac to the mountains to become a human sacrifice. They arrived at the location, and Isaac still did not realize that HE was going to be the sacrifice. Isaac knew there had to be 3 things to have a sacrifice: wood, fire, and a lamb. Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, Father? Yes, my son? Abraham replied. The fire and wood are here, Isaac said, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? (Genesis 22:7) 4,000 years later, as we look at most churches around us, we can invert the question and ask, “We have the wood, we have the Lamb, but where’s the fire?” Wood—cross of Calvary Lamb—Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God But, where is the fire?
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