Fire Spreads

“And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us (Luke 24:32)?”

One of the worst disasters of the nineteenth century was the Great Chicago Fire, which occurred in 1871. This fire was responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and claimed over 200 lives. How did such a terrible fire start? It began in the barn of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary, when one cow allegedly kicked over a lantern. This burned down the barn and the flame spread throughout much of the city. Amazingly, one cow had such an impact. Why? Because fire always spreads!

An example of this took place after the resurrection of Christ. His disciples did not yet know that He had risen from the dead, and two of them were walking on the road down to Emmaus. Jesus joined them and began explaining the Scriptures to Him. They did not know who He was until He prayed, and He then vanished from their sight. After He was gone, they commented, “Our hearts burned as He explained the Scriptures to us!” The fire of the Holy Spirit that burned inside of Christ spread to His disciples as well.

The very nature of fire is to spread. Any flammable material will be overtaken by the flame. The same is true in the spirit; if we are burning with the fire of God, we will spread it to others. The fire of God, that passion for His presence and zeal to win the lost, is contagious. So do you want to see change in your home, in your cell group, among your friends? Do you want to see increased passion in those around you? The answer is to burn yourself.

So instead of looking at others and waiting for them to burn, let’s ask God to send revival and start with us. Let’s cry out for another Pentecost, for a fresh baptism of fire that will overtake and envelop us. Then let’s take this fire to the world. It will spread, and we will see a generation changed, one fire-carrier at a time.

That's What Heaven Will Be

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:3,4).

Do you ever get tired of struggling with sin? Do you ever wish that you could be completely holy and pure? Do you desire to be like Jesus? I know that I do, and every believer should. We have a new nature that is crying out to be free, a new impulse within us that longs for holiness. As I was pondering these things yesterday, God directed my thoughts towards heaven, and the wonderful place that it will be. And a remarkable blessing of heaven is that it will be the place where we are completely, totally, sin-free.

Can you imagine that? A day is coming when you will never again have a sinful thought; you’ll never speak a wrong word; you’ll never have a feeling of pride or jealousy wash across you. How wonderful that day will be! God will be with us, dwell among us, and He will complete our righteousness. What a wonderful promise it is, that the day is going to come when I no longer have any struggle with any sin or battle with unrighteousness. The primary blessing of heaven is the fact that we will be with God eternally, and one of the first consequences of this primary blessing is our complete and final sanctification.

Of course, God doesn’t want us to wait until we get to heaven to be holy; He wants us to start the process now. Victory is not something we wait for in eternity; we are called to reign in this life (Romans 5:17), today. But we need to understand that our victory here on earth is just the smallest foretaste of our victory in heaven. The greatest saint on earth is like a shadow compared to those who have been glorified. The anointing of the Holy Spirit we have today is just a deposit of the astounding inheritance that is awaiting us (Ephesians 1:14). Let’s trust God to give us holiness, righteousness, victory, health, peace, and joy to their fullest possible extent while we are here on earth, but let’s always remember with hope; something even greater is coming. There is a heaven to win, and that is our destiny.

So lift up your eyes and fix your affections on heaven (Colossians 3:2). It has been said with good intentions that it’s possible to be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good, but I believe that is an incorrect statement. If we are truly heavenly minded, we will produce maximum earthly good, for we will realize that all the things we accomplish on earth are bearing eternal fruit and bringing eternal joy and happiness to God’s people. Being heavenly minded will increase our evangelism, increase our help of the poor, and increase our walk of holiness while on earth. We have a wonderful destiny of holiness ahead of us. Forever and ever we will be with Jesus, perfectly sinless and full of joy and peace. The promise is sure, so let’s walk in such a way that we win the prize in the end!

Building an Ark When It's Never Even Rained

And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him (Genesis 7:5).

For a moment, close your eyes and imagine something with me. Imagine a boat that is bigger than a football field. Imagine trying to build this boat, with no electricity, no modern technology, and no army of workers. Now imagine building this boat in the middle of dry land, far away from any sea. Finally, imagine doing this when it has never even rained!

Essentially, this is what God commanded Noah to do. The ark that Noah built was a truly gigantic edifice, so big that it took him one hundred years to build. It had never rained on earth (the climate was different in pre-Flood times), and Noah was being commanded to build a boat on dry land! It made no sense at all to the natural mind.

Imagine how Noah must have been mocked and laughed at. The evil men and women that were filling the world at that point must have made a huge joke out of Noah’s efforts. Certainly everyone thought he was insane to be building this boat on dry land. It consumed all of his energy, efforts, and resources. Yet, Noah knew God had commanded him to build it, and he obeyed.

And it’s an excellent thing he obeyed! Noah’s obedience preserved the human race during the flood, and we are all now his descendants. If he had disobeyed this seemingly ludicrous instruction, all life on earth would have ended. His obedience led to great blessing for himself, his family, and all of us that are still on earth.

The point for us today is that we must obey God, no matter what His instructions to us are. God may sometimes ask us to do things that seem to make no sense at all. Sometimes the right decision is not the one that we would make through natural wisdom. But if you are going to be used of God to bring blessing to your generation, you must be willing to do what doesn’t make sense to your mind and obey God.

When I was 17, I was offered a scholarship to my dream school, the University of Michigan. Accepting the scholarship and graduating from there would have led to great opportunities in the future, and accepting it certainly seemed to be the most logical choice. However, God spoke to me that I should not go to U of M, but should instead wait and attend Bible school. By God’s grace, I obeyed His instruction and learned that what seems like the most sensible choice is not always the best choice. We should always obey God over our own minds.

Obeying God is always the best way to go, and is our duty as a Christian. And when we do obey, He brings great blessing upon us. So be willing to do something crazy for God. Is he asking you to go to the mission field? Share the Gospel to the toughest person you know? Turn down a lucrative job offer for something else? Follow Noah’s example; build an ark when it’s never even rained. You can bring salvation to your generation.

The Deadly Danger of Jealousy

Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him (Genesis 4:8).

Do you have any siblings? How do you get along with them? I hope you get along well (as my sister and I do), but the sad truth is many siblings have bad relationships with each other. And unfortunately, the first pair of siblings on earth also had a very bad end to their relationship!

Cain and Abel, both boys, were the first two children born to Adam and Eve. As they grew, Cain became a farmer while Adam was a shepherd. When it came time to give an offering to God, Abel offered a sheep while Cain offered some of his vegetables. The Bible tells us that God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s. Cain became filled with jealousy towards Abel and killed him in his anger. God judged Cain and made him a wanderer throughout the earth. It was a very sad end, but there are many lessons we can learn from their story.

First, why did God accept Abel’s offering while rejecting Cain’s? The answer is that Cain offered God the vegetables he had grown; in other words, he was trying to justify himself through his own efforts. However, God does not forgive us based on the good things we do; forgiveness comes through faith in Christ. Thus Abel’s offering of a lamb signified the need that the Lamb of God would one day have to die in order for man to be forgiven. Cain should have obtained a sheep from Abel in order to sacrifice. We need to keep in mind that our own efforts can never cause us to find favor in the eyes of God. The only currency in God’s Kingdom is faith in Christ, the one who has paid the price for all of our sins. And it’s only through focus on Him that we grow and be made more into God’s image. So if you are desperate for a change in your life, don’t look to yourself, but focus on the sacrifice of Christ.

Next, we see in this story the grave danger of jealousy. Cain murdering Abel was the first murder in the history of mankind, and what was at its root? Jealousy. Cain couldn’t stand the fact that God had accepted Abel’s offering and rejected his. His jealousy consumed him and ate away at him until he was willing to kill his very own brother. Jealousy destroys lives. Think of King Saul, who spent his last ten years as king in a desperate attempt to kill David due to his jealousy of him. If we are ever going to go on towards maturity in our spiritual lives, we must cry out to God to remove all jealousy from our hearts.

When God confronted Cain with his sin, Cain asked “Am I my brother’s keeper?” In other words, he didn’t want to care for Abel. However, as believers, we are our brother and sister’s keeper! We are responsible for their well-being and should rejoice when they rejoice. Cain should have congratulated Abel on his acceptable offering and learned from him; instead, he hardened his heart in jealousy and didn’t repent before God. Cain’s entire life was ruined by his hatred and jealousy of Abel, and even his children suffered as a result; his entire line grew apart from God. Fill your mind and heart with blessings towards others and let all the jealousy be removed from your heart.

Glorious Purpose

I’ve never been very good at archery. Every time I ever try to shoot the bow and arrow, I miss the bull’s eye. It can be frustrating to miss the mark so often! Fortunately for me, ability to hit a target with an arrow is not necessary for any part of my life!

However, there is another target that I do need to hit, and that is the target God has made for my life. God has created me with a purpose, and it is the same for each one of you-there is a target you should be aiming for, a purpose for which you have been created. The Apostle Paul understood that he was created for a purpose, and he wrote:

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14).

The fundamental reason that each of one of us has been created is to bring God glory; that is your ultimate purpose. But how can we bring glory to God? What can we do for the Sovereign Lord of all? I believe there are three purposes God has for each of us, three purposes that will give us a glorious life that glorifies God. We should be motivated by these things at all times, and they all revolve around Jesus.

1) Knowing Jesus. God wants us to have an experiential knowledge of who He is, to know His character, His ways, His voice, His Word, His nature, and His experience. We were created for fellowship with God and He wants us to draw near to Him and be His Bride. If we are going to know God, it takes study, desire, and faith. Study, because the Scriptures reveal who God is; desire, because we need to cry out to know Him on a personal level; and faith, because we must believe He wants to reveal Himself to us. Let’s press in to know God more.

2) Making Jesus Known. God doesn’t just want us to know Him; He then wants us to introduce Him to others. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and that should be our goal as well. God wants us to have a heavenly vision with an earthly mission, where we are His hands and feet extended to our dying world. You are here to witness, so reach out to your family, your friends, your school and your nation.

3) Becoming Like Jesus. This is the glorious hope of each Christian. God has predestined us to be conformed into the image of His Son. How glorious it will be to love how Jesus loves, think how Jesus thinks, reach out how Jesus reaches out, and be pure and holy and righteous as He is. And the way we become like Jesus is through learning and following Him in small, day-to-day things. So in everything you do in life, natural or spiritual, do it with purpose, realizing you are being changed to be like Him.

So live your life with a purpose. Be driven towards these three goals. Life is all about Christ and we glorify Him through these three purposes. He is Everything.