Stoking the Fire - Pastor Stacey Shiflett

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Stoking the Fire

Romans 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

Intro: Another title for this message could be:  How to keep from getting cold on God.

Do you know what it means to get cold on God?

Growing up in church, I have heard this phrase a thousand times.

Preachers have used that phrase to describe a person that is in need of revival.

Just four months ago, I preached a message entitled “What It Means to be On Fire.”

Next Sunday, we will start our Fall Revival.

The question someone may be asking this morning is why?

Why do we need a revival here at Calvary Baptist Church?

God is working. Souls are being saved weekly. The altars are packed after every message.

The outreach ministries are thriving. The pastor has liberty to preach.

Why are we having a revival?

This verse has always been a favorite of mine.

I had it on the side of my business vans years ago.

These three phrases go together perfectly.

The Christian would do well to memorize this verse and make it a life motto.

I. The STARTING of the Fire

When you and I got saved, God started a fire in us.

It was a supernatural fire; a spiritual fire.

When I got born again, God quickened my dead spirit and made me alive.

Since that time, there has been a fire burning within me that I cannot explain.

After 48 years, it is still burning today!

One that you and I should nurture and cultivate our whole Christian life.

It would take an entire series of messages to do a deep dive into the fires found in the Bible.

The word fire is found in the Bible over 500 times.

The word flame or flames is found nearly 40 times.

But to do a quick summary, God starting that fire within us at salvation brought about several things.

Where there is fire, there is:

A. Power

In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit was signified by tongues of fire.

The Bible says that God is a consuming fire.

The Christian is commanded to be the light of the world.

We are told to let our light so shine before men…

We are told not to put our candle under the basket.

Fire has the power to bring light into darkness.

Fire has the power to change the temperature in your home.

Fire has the power to change the testimony in the community.

Fire has the power to transform.

Where there is fire, there is:

B. Potential

I saw a Smoky the Bear poster yesterday.

Only you can prevent forest fires.

One tree can make thousands of matches, and one match can destroy thousands of trees.

The potential of a Christian that is on fire is unlimited.

D.L. Moody said, “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.”

The potential of a church that is on fire is unimaginable.

The potential of a man, a woman, a teenager that is on fire is impossible to describe.

Where there is fire, there is:

C. Purifying

Fire has the distinct ability to both pollute and purify.

The oldest trick in the book to purify water is to boil it.

ILLUSTRATION: In Samoa in the early 80’s we had to boil the water to make it drinkable.

·        Psalms 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

The Bible talks about the “dross” multiple times.

That is the element in the metal that is removed through the fire process, making it more valuable.

·        Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

More than ever, we need the fires of revival to burn within us to purify the dross of this world.

The infiltration of this world has defiled our hearts and minds more than we could ever imagine.

ILLUSTRATION: I got E coli in South Africa back in 2006 because I didn’t cook the meat long enough.

Where there is fire, there is:

D. Passion

·        Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

If there is anything we need today, it is for our churches to be filled with PASSIONATE Christians!!

As our text says – FERVENT IN SPIRIT!!

FERVENT: to boil with heat, be hot 

II. The STIRRING of the Fire

There’s not a Christian alive that could not benefit from a stirring this morning.

The stirring does several things.

A. It Refreshes the Heart

There are parts of the fire that cannot get oxygen due to the settling of the embers.

The inner parts of the fire that get closed off start to cool.

The stirring of the fire allows the air to flow into the innermost parts of the fire.

·        Ephesians 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

B. It Reveals the Hidden

·        Psalms 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

That husbandman had a solution to the tree without fruit.

Dig around it. Turn everything upside down and inside out.

That’s what stirring the fire will do.

When you’re too comfortable and settled, God needs to stir the slumbering chords.

C. It Reminds the Hearer

·        2 Peter 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

III. The STOKING of the Fire

The secret to not getting cold on God is to build a fire and keep stoking it.

Those of us that grew up with fireplaces and wood stoves know exactly what stoking the fire means.

The phrase STOKING THE FIRE means:

1. to poke or stir up (a fire, flames, etc.) to supply with fuel

2: to feed abundantly

3: to increase the activity, intensity, or amount of

4: to stir up or tend a fire (as in a furnace) :supply a furnace with fuel

When talking about the talebearer, Solomon said this:

·        Proverbs 26:20 Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out:

You might just need to throw some wood on the fire this morning!

ILLUSTRATION: The time our wood stove went out in the middle of the night and my dad had to go outside and lasso deal limbs out of the tree to get the fire started again.

Negligence caused the fire to go out.

We woke up in the middle of the night freezing cold.

Getting distracted caused the wood stove to slowly get cold and lifeless.

Thinking about other things and not making the fire a priority turned the whole house into an icebox.

There was only one solution – find some firewood and stoke the fire.

It was a simple fix – but it was not easy.

The reason that many Christians get cold on God is they simply stop putting wood on the fire.

It’s too much trouble.

Notice the text: Romans 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit

They stopped stoking the fire with wood that is necessary to keep the fires alive.

Fires require constant maintenance.

They never stop devouring, until there is nothing left to devour.

If you don’t want to get cold on God, you must keep stoking the fire with wood.

A. Time in the Prayer Closet

·        Jude 1:20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

B. Time of Personal Cleansing before God

Psalm 139

·        23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

·        24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

C. Time in Persistent Communion with God

·        Luke 24:32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

In verse 29, they constrained him to abide with them.

Sometimes, the secret to stoking the fire is to not get in a hurry when God is speaking.

There’s no better way to stoke that fire inside of you than to spend time with God and let him open up the Scriptures!!