Sunday, 25 January 2009

  • January 25, 2009

    Today, on this January 25, 2009, we praise our God for who He is and what He has done! Thank the Lord God for the time that He's given us on this earth that we can sing His praise forevermore! The message this week was brought to you by Pastor BB.

    "Keep The Fire Burning"

    Leviticus 6:12-13

    12 The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings [a] on it. 13 The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

    Read verse thirteen again. And once more for good measure. Is it stuck in your head? Remember it! It's an important instruction from God, which applies not only to those in Old Testament times, but also to you now in your daily life! In these times of economic crisis, family crisis, any other crisis that you might be going through in your life right now, there is one thing we can do. It is something that we can always do and always should do. Look to God. Hope comes from nowhere, if not from God. It is time in our lives to put away those things which are childish, those things that are troublesome, those things that cause us to complain. God spoke to Aaron and gave him the specific instruction: Do NOT Let the Fire Go Out. That means that he didn't have time to slack off. He was busy with the fire every day. Every morning and every evening, he had to constantly tend to the fire. The same in our daily lives.

    Burnt Offering:

    Olah: A burnt offering which goes up into smoke. A sacrifice which is entirely burned.

    Alah: To ascend, mount up, go up, rise; to grow up, be lifted up, put up; to be led up; lead up

    Peace Offering:

    Shelem: Retribution, rumination, reward; a sacrifice offered to give thanks. A voluntary sacrifice.

    These mark the differences between offerings that were made to God. Sinners brought animals to the altar, placed two hands on the animal. The sins were transferred to the animal and when he fire burns the animal, the sins are also burned away. The priest kills the animal and sprinkles the blood around beforehand. This is how sins were temporarily forgiven. Thank God that we don't have to go through that any more. We have permanent forgiveness of our sins!

    But for a peace offering, only the fat is burned.

    The Fat:

    -The fat which is around the intestines, the kidneys, the liver, and the fat of a sheep's tail was burned on the altar. The priest and the worshipper who brought the sacrifice shared the rest of the meat.

    Now, we aren't called the burn an animal for us, but we are called to make different sacrifices in our lives. To keep the fire of God burning in our lives. There was a unique sacrifice made for us, once and for all. The Sacrifice of Sacrifices, just as He is also the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We couldn't do it ourselves, so it happened for us. Now we are saved and blessed. Praise be to God!

    This is an important sacrifice: that we praise and worship God. When we worship, we need to worship with not only our lips, but with our whole hearts. That means when we come to church, we need to set aside our lives and just spend the time with our focus on God. Spend some time away from your needs and praise God. Do we serve God for our own gain or are we serving Him for His sake? That time needs to be focused on Him. God doesn't call us for our material wealth, but for our hearts.

    How do we keep the fire burning? The same way the priests did. Be ever vigilant. Every morning, every evening, all the time, be watching that fire. Don't quench it, feed it! This is one fire that we want to be a raging inferno! Use prayer and the Word of God. If you notice the lack of fire, there must be something wrong. It's time to take matters into your own hands. And give them to God, who can handle them! God will challenge you to deeper things. He will make you stronger and lead you higher than you ever thought possible! Fan the flame. We are needed to keep the fire going, even for each other. If your fire is weak, then join with another and once again, it will burn brightly. It's time to challenge each other and keep moving.

    Every year, everyone went to Shiloh to sacrifice to the Lord. Afterwards, blessings would follow. Every Sunday, God is ready to give you His blessings. Why would you miss that? Why would you want to? A person is unique in who they are and what they can do. God is blessing others through you, even if you don't know it, so your presence is valuable to those around you. Keep the fire inside of you burning. If not for yourself, for those you love around you. And DO SOMETHING. A fire will run out of fuel if it's kept in one place for too long. Reach out and find your passion to serve God. In this way, we will all join together and become one raging wildfire! It will be a big change and burn away all the impurities, only leaving a pure, righteous individual standing before the throne of God.

    This is the power of the fire that God has placed in us. This is the power of the Holy Spirit!

     

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