Gospel

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Saturday 7/26/14 Alfred Station SDB, Pastor Cedric sermon: Keep The Fire Burning Jeremiah 20:7-13
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Fire. Parents, you teach your children not to play with fire. My first recollection of fire was when I was an 8-year-old child. It was my brother’s graduation and my parents had bought him a graduation prom suit. I was playing with matches in the bedroom and struck a match, started a fire that burned up my brother’s prom suit. I got a spanking so bad that I could not sit down for a week. What is fire? Fire can burn and produce light. The color of the flame is red, orange or white. Fire needs three elements: gas, heat and oxygen.

Fire as it relates to the Church today, has been reduced to a flicker. What used to be a burning fire is now a flicker. The question is, if your local church closed down, what impact would it have on the community? The Church needs to get back to being on Fire for Jesus! The Church need to re-light her fire for the Lord! In the Church, we can start a fire with three elements: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. We can turn our world upside down for Jesus if we re-kindle our fire. We must not let our fire be extinguished.

In our text, Jeremiah’s flame has been dwindled, extinguished. He feels like giving up because no one wants to hear about the Lord. It seems like that is what is happening to us today. No none wants to hear about Jesus. We can relate to Jeremiah and sometimes we may want to throw in the towel! We know what it is like to want to pack up and go back home. However….when you are working for God, there is nothing that can stop you!
Jeremiah is also complaining about God Himself. He feels like he was enticed by God. Enticed has several meanings. Jeremiah feels like he was misled by God into the ministry and now people are not listening to his sermons. Enticed can also mean to be seduced – seduced, overpowered. Jeremiah feels that God took advantage of him and called him into God’s work. He feels like God forced him into something that he did not want to do. Finally, Jeremiah comes to the realization that the Word of God is like fire in his bones! He cannot keep it to himself. God’s Word is so powerful that Jeremiah just has to do God’s will. God’s will is so powerful that if we submit, God will take care of us.

*Keep the Fire Burning*

1) Fire of Community- The people of God in Acts 2 all believed and had all things in common. They broke bread together and took care of each other. We all need each other too.

2) Fire of Compassion- Today there seems to be little compassion for people. What kind of people can shoot down a plane, killing more than 200 people, and leave their dead bodies laid out for days? However, there are still some compassionate people like the EMS or Salvation Army that help folk. There is still no one as compassionate as Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

3) Fire of Conviction- We need to be arrested by what we believe in and what we know as the Truth. As a strong Christian, you should believe and have conviction that Jesus died and rose again so we can have Eternal Life.

4) Fire of Confession- In chapter 1, Jeremiah confessed that he was too young and didn’t want to preach. We need to confess to God our conditions and our faults. God will forgive us.

5) Fire of Commitment – Today the fire of commitment has burned out for so many. People live their life their own way. We need to let our commitment shine bright so people can see us and glorify God. Keep the fire of commitment for our Lord Jesus. As long as we have Jesus, that is all that we need. When the storms of life are raging, Jesus will hold on to us and love us.

Keep the Fire Burning!!!
AMEN

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