TOPIC:“Set Us On Fire, Lord”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled” (Luke 12:49, NKJV)
Perhaps most of us here today are not aware that fire plays a significant role in the Bible. As a matter of fact, God is characterized both by Moses and the writer of Hebrews in this way: “For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). Not only that, but listen to some of the various ways the word “fire” is used in the Holy Scriptures.
It is used in reference to the Word of God, the glory of god, the holiness of God, and the jealousy of God. On the other hand fire is used in reference to God's judgment - hell, the lake of fire, and everlasting punishment. But in this message I desire for us also to behold the word “fire” as a sacred symbol of God's divine presence with a healing, restoring and purifying ministry within the lives of all believers.
We Christians of today have the altar, the wood, and the sacrifice, but we must have the fire. The fire of God's Holy Spirit must fall from Heaven in order to turn our complacent lives into burning flames for the glory of Christ and His Church. Our prayer and passion should be, “Set us on fire, Lord.” May it happen today!
We have, first of all, in the verses before us the fire of REGRETTABLE LOSS. Look again at those words of Jesus in verse 49: “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.” Then He continues in verse 51: “Do you suppose that I came to give peace of earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.”
Now get what Jesus said: Not peace, but division. Family division and disrupted family relationships. Jesus in verses 52 and 53 states: “For from now on five in one house will be divided; three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law . . .