I wish to share something the Holy Spirit has been dealing strongly with me about. That 'something' is the 'purity' of [u]our[/u] teaching and preaching. I will deal mainly with myself here as I wish to please the Lord in all things. We simply cannot preach on 'Hell Fire' [i]with[/i] 'hell fire' (the fire of hell).

James tells us that the tongue is a 'fire' and can be set on fire of hell (James 3:6). It is interesting to me that God used cloven 'tongues' like as of fire in conjunction with the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). Christ is said to have to come to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE (Matthew 3). Jeremiah writes:

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 [i]burning fire shut up in my bones[/i], and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

This is the unction of God as it is described by a person informing us of what it is like to have the Lord put a word in a person's 'mouth'. It is the fire of the Lord, evidence of the Holy Spirit ready to speak to a people.

BUT, there is another fire also. And that 'fire' does not come down from above. You will recall that Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, once [i]presumed[/i] to offer strange fire before the Lord. They were devoured by the fire of God and Aaron was not allowed even to mourn. They were priests before the Lord and when in service for Him, they were to use 'his fire' [u]alone[/u]. They were not at home. They were on business for their King.

Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

I cannot allow frustration to become the 'fire' that fuels my passion to minister. I cannot allow the years of rejection to grab ahold of my heart and spark the beginnings of a 'strange fire' in ministry. Every time I speak, it must be what says the Lord.


But the wisdom that is from above is [u]first pure[/u], then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. (James 3:17, 18)

The Greek word for 'pure' here is [i]hagnos[/i] and it means 'free from sin' or 'chaste'. Imagine preaching on holiness with a word that was 'unchaste' because it was fired by the wrong flame. the message was right, but the heart was not.

A preacher walked off a platform years ago in southern Missouri and stated, "I really skinned em' from Dan to Beersheeba tonight!" Can a person take pleasure in 'skinning' the people?

I was sitting in study recently and the Holy Spirit said to me, "You teach and preach with sarcasm." My first response was, "Sarcasm is the Devils wit." I knew right then to check myself and not 'interject' little silly statements that originate in my frustrations and not in God.

I believe that we are coming to a stage when God is going to start dealing with some issues in the Body of Christ. I am reminded of how when I was a child some family member would be 'out of line' and a whole host of corrective statements would be thrown out towards them, until, DAD came home. When DAD came home, we did not dare say a word. HE was dealing with them and if we tried to get our 'two cents in' we met with his correction for [u]our[/u] shortcomings, that HE had remembered and WE had been ignoring.

We talk revival, but I wonder if folk really want revival? I seem to recall some people dropping dead in the revival in the first several chapters of Acts. Like Job and the whirlwind. We talk a bunch of stuff till God shows up and speaks. I would entreat that we ought to use caution in these Last Days that we don't become 'Nadab' and 'Abihu's'. That when we speak we know its the Lord and not some [i]strange fire[/i].

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Robert Wurtz II

Well spoken Robert.

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Mike Balog

this is great, thanks brother Robert

I don't preach (women shouldn't), but I have heard times when preachers have given 'tounge lashings' instead of preaching the word of God from a pure heart. This is a needful message and needs to be heeded by any preachers out there.

very encouraging message.

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Lisa

Robert, a very timely and prophetic word! It grips my heart.

How often - if our deeper desires were to be laid bare, would we hear ourselves saying, “Lord send fire down to destroy those obnoxious sinners.” – or maybe something much tamer, or maybe just passivity - but just as deadly?

You succinctly expose an immoral motive: wishing the fires of hell on people. However, we are called to be ministers of reconciliation, instruments of MERCY. That is the gospel, and we are called to preach it - with the fire of God burning in our bones.

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Diane

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Diane

[u]our[/u]

Brother, am not feeling especially talkative of late for a variety of reasons but this is something just as well the Lord has been trying to get through. That word is key and the other a derivative from this;

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Mike Balog

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Ed Pugh

I know this is changing the subject in question, but the subject of so called 'women preachers' came up. Scripture says clearly that women are not to have authority over a man. The first church I attended had a female pastor, and the church was constantly rife with problems. The best thing I ever did was leave. However, I don't see in Scripture, which is the final authority as far a I am concerned, that women cannot be missionaries, but not to oversee a church.
Getting back to the subject, we are to speak the truth in love. Let's do so. God bless.