Foundation Text: Acts 2: 1-3.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
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And fire sat upon them
Fire burns, spreads, purifies, gives light, and can't be frozen. Do you see why the early church turned their world upside right without the sophistication of our modern technologies?
When the fire of God falls on a generation, they can't remain the same.
When the Scripture speaks about a form of godliness that denies the power thereof, it is referring to our present religious culture that leaves people satisfied with shadows and kills their appetite for the reality of what God intends and what Christ died to deliver to everyone who believes. Sadly, this religious culture is what most of our present-day Christians are after.
We talk about revival in most places because of the thousands of people in churches and the hundreds of thousands attending mass crusades. I wholeheartedly agree. There is a religious awakening, but not an awakening to the truth. The world would have been different if it were a real awakening of the human spirit to the truth of God's kingdom, plan, purpose, and overall agenda.
We need a spiritual revolution that can remove the "curse" of our present religious culture from our people globally. Praise God! He is raising a generation to do just that through the instrument of the revealed Word.
The same temple baby Jesus was taken to and presented to the Lord was the temple He went into, chased out those buying and selling, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves.
He didn't let things go unchecked to protect His "mother church" or denomination. He confronted what was wrong with the system to restore sanity where there was insanity. That is the kind of revolutionary fire capable of bringing change in this world.
Prophets were famous for their righteous indignation against unrighteousness and injustice in high and low places. Today, most preachers are busy singing the praises of corrupt politicians and religious leaders because of the crumbs they are eating from their tables.
When Jesus returned to the temple where His dedication as a baby took place, He didn't go there to dish out prophecies of favour and prosperity to those buying and selling. He didn't anoint the money changers and dove sellers like some preachers of today would have done. He caused a rumble in the temple.
Don't you think our churches and ministries need the Jesus kind of visitation today?
If Christ walks into some of our churches and ministries on SUNDAY morning, He isn't going to preach what most of us are busy preaching. He is not going to prophesy breakthroughs as we do today. His first goal will be to cleanse the house.
We need Christ back to His church! Jesus cleansed the temple as the Word of God in bodily form. The Word of God in the mouths of God's servants can produce the same results both in the church and society.
The preachers and teachers of the Word can transform the world if we stop the fanfare we are doing and stop sacrificing our dedication to the truth on the altar of men pleasing and denominational compromise.
Nothing kills the fire of God like the desire to please a religious system at the expense of doing God's will. The Apostles, like Christ, their Master, were revolutionaries. God's will was their obsession. They had no time to please the religious systems of their days.
In my 37 years of walking with the Lord, I've seen some promising young emerging leaders lose their voices because they desire to please ordinary people whose breath is in their nostrils and their religious systems rather than God.
We were to serve our churches and ministries as they stay faithful to the truth, but when they deviate, we are supposed to raise our voices to speak on God's behalf instead of staying silent and drinking the adulterated water of compromise.
Christ kicked out those buying and selling in the same temple He once was dedicated to the Lord. Martin Luther Nailed his 95 points against the Church of Rome, not at the door of a bar, but the door of the main cathedral of the religious system he was serving.
It takes revolutionary fire to challenge religious systems and still have your head on your neck. Pontius Pilate, the fifth prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, was willing to release Jesus, but religious voices wanted him dead. But praise God, His death brought life and redemption to all humankind.
Oh, God! Send revolutionary fire to burn in the church and the world.
Our greatest poverty is not financial but the absence of revolutionary fire. It is coming! It is coming! The fire is coming to melt hearts and bow knees in submission to the King of Kings. The time has come to seek the Lord for revolutionary fire!
And Fire Sat Upon Them! Go for it in Jesus' name!
Dr Benard Etta
GFC Visionary
Comments
Blow like a mighty wind, spirit of victory. Glory!