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The Heart Must Be Hot
Text: Psalm 39: 3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then† spake I with my tongue, 4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. 5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
7And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. 8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.
Revelation 3: 14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceansa write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Message Title: The Heart Must Be Hot!
The most dangerous thing that can happen to a church is for it to become lukewarm. Some things just are not any good in a lukewarm state: coffee, certain foods, and churches! Lukewarm churches become places of desolation. Lukewarm churches will not grow. Lukewarm churches will not thrive. There is only one way to take care of this: extended prayer and fasting. The first week in January will be devoted to church-wide prayer and fasting. January 3rd – 7th, every night, Monday through Friday, there will be prayer here at the church at 6:00. If you want to see our church thrive in 2005, then be a part of it! God is in this. This is God’s will for our church!
If you want to be a part of a lukewarm church, this church is the wrong place to be!! As long as I am your shepherd, I will not stand for the lukewarm spirit!…it is a lazy spirit from hell. It has no place in the body of Christ! Together we will fight the lukewarm spirit!
You may say, what makes you think that there is a problem with lukewarmness around here? Read the handwriting on the wall! Flimsy excuses as to why you can‘t be in the house of God, rarely gracing the altar, rarely worshipping…..these are only some of the signs of lukewarmness…others include a grumbling spirit, complaining about the small things, and being easily provoked. Lukewarm people purposely look for reasons to backslide, and if it is in your heart to backslide, Satan will make sure you find a reason.
I wonder if there is anybody here who is just as sick and tiered as I am of the devil’s little tricks? When you have a made up mind to serve the Lord you see Satan’s conspiracies for what they are: weak reasons to turn your back on God! The devil knows some of you would never leave the church, so instead he will whisper in your ear that you don’t have to give God the energy that you once did, that you have paid your dues and you can just let the young people be the worshippers and the soul winners…..the problem with that thinking is that it doesn’t do much to contribute to revival, it tears down your victory, and it how on earth can we expect the young people to lead the way if we don’t give them an example to follow? If you are lukewarm, your kids will also be lukewarm!
If you want victory in your walk with God, and if you want to hear Jesus say, “Well Done,’ you must overcome complacency in your walk!
You see, the church at Laodicea was once a fervently healthy and thriving church! The Apostle Paul was well acquainted with the Laodicean church. We know this because he mentioned them in his letter to Colosse. Paul does not correct them at the time. It appears that Laodicea was in a sound state. The scripture give us warning to beware of spirits that creep in to corrupt. Lukewarmness is a spirit. You can’t just decide to overcome this on your own power…it has to be broken using supernatural weapons.
In process of time, the spiritual condition degenerated. A cooling down from their former fire took place and the Laodiceans became careless, lax, and indifferent. Perhaps the core believers died spiritually. Perhaps wealth worship lured the people into worldliness. Perhaps freedom from persecution made them soft and the cradle of ease rocked them to sleep. Perhaps neglect of prayer opened the door into a gradual half-backslid condition. I pray that this message will enter with power into the hearts of all present, but especially to the consciences of the members of my own church. As the shepherd, I see the big picture….that while you may be worrying about some small thing….God is far more concerned about what He sees from a much larger view. While God cares about us as individuals, He also cares about us as a whole. When He sees the whole going a certain direction, He speaks to the captain to begin turning the ship in a different direction. By the grace of God I will take this church in a more spiritual direction because that is why God sent me here. God did not send me here to change diapers. God did not send me here to be the maint. Man. God did not send me here to be your plumber or your mechanic. God sent me here to direct this ship toward Zion! That is the only reason I am here: If you want to go….get on board…if you want to wallow in your little complaint….there are other ships that are going nowhere that you can jump into. But as for this ship….we have a mandate to reach our world for Jesus Christ no matter what it takes and no matter who does or does not like it! Be a part of the Revival Team!
This year is going to be the Year of Miracles….I feel it! Yet we cannot expect miracles to even grace our property if we don’t get some fire in us!
The Miracles are going to be for those who are on fire!
How do I know if I am on fire…..check your worship….if you find yourself not worshipping with everybody else, chances are you are not on fire like you should be! If you find yourself looking for any excuse to stay home from church, chances are you are not on fire like you should be. If you find yourself avoiding the altar call, chances are you are not on fire like you should be. If you find yourself avoiding spiritual activities, chances are you are not on fire like you should be.
If it is a carnal activity, you will change your work schedule, you will do whatever it takes do make sure you show up, but if it is a spiritual activity, you have a dozen reasons why you can’t be there. It’s all about where your heart it…..where there is a will, there is a way! If you want to be on fire for God, most of you know how to get the fire!
Paul told Timothy to Stir up the gift of God that is within you!!!! It’s time to blow the dust off your gift and start giving God your best! Stir it up!
Don’t tell God your are giving Him your best when you won’t even stay for the preaching, let alone the altar call!…Satan will give you all the reasons you need to split out on God….but all Satan’s reasons will leave you empty…..To some people church is nothing more than a place to socialize….it’s that lukewarm spirit that keeps some people totally in the dark about what it means to walk in total victory!
This church of Laodicea had fallen into a condition which had literally chased away the Lord! The text tells us that Jesus said, “I stand at the door and knock.” That is not the position which Jesus occupies in a truly flourishing church. If we are walking closely with him, he is in the midst of the church, dwelling there, and revealing himself to his people. His presence makes our worship to be full of spirituality and life; he meets his servants at the table, and Jesus spreads them a feast. It is Jesus who puts power and energy into all our church-action, and causes the word to sound out from our midst. True saints abide in Jesus and he in them! When the Lord is in a church, it is a happy church, a holy church, a mighty church, and a triumphant church!
I told you at the beginning about the danger of the lukewarm spirit: why is being lukewarm so dangerous….after all…its sort of comfortable to the flesh…its nice getting up any time I want and skipping out of service…its nice not having to worry about praying through at the altar…its nice being able to gossip any ol time I want and not feel any conviction…it’s nice to cut my hair and wear make-up and pants and not feel any sense of conviction…it’s nice to not pay my tithes and keep that extra money for my gambling. It’s nice to be able to down a six pack now and still come to church on Sunday…it’s nice to be able to cuss and listen to my country or rock music on occasion….and still be called a Christian….you see, the reason people are content to be lukewarm is because it is a very comfortable disease. You don’t feel any sense of alarm. You can hear a message like this and use your pitchfork to throw it over your shoulder to the person behind you….the lukewarm spirit is a nice place to be for the flesh….the problem is that the lukewarm spirit is a very selfish spirit and eventually will lead to a very lonely place…..hell will be full of lukewarm Christians….these will be people who knew the truth, but did not love the truth. You see, you cannot love the truth and be lukewarm!
The lukewarm church, if left to its fallen condition, is destined to become wretched,—that is to say, miserable, unhappy, divided, without the presence of God, and so without delight in the ways of God, lifeless, spiritless, dreary, desolate, full of schisms, devoid of grace.
Close:
The United Methodist Church used to have the fire the United Pentecostal Church has….but something terrible began to happen: it has been a slow death…but it began when the Holy Ghost was shut out and holiness was deemed unnecessary….thousands have left the United Methodist Church organization, and now the top leadership is begging for preachers of other spirit-filled movements to come and fill their pulpits… they are desperately wanting that old simple and basic fire of God’s presence back in their movement…..they can have it if they want it, but O how much better it would have been if they had not forsaken the fire in the first place.
Where are you right now? We cannot afford to allow that old ugly lukewarm spirit to creep up on us this year.….we shall conquer it, we shall prevail…..and our victory begins right now in this altar…I wonder who else will take a stand and proclaim victory in the name of Jesus Christ! This altar is open for us to come and worship our way to the fire of His Holy presence!
