KEEPING THE FIRE GOING

[Albert Finch]

"I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes so you can see. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him, and he with me." - Revelation 3:18,20

It was to the last Church the Lord addressed in the Book of Revelation, the Church of Laodicea, that He gave His greatest promise to. Those promises are for His people today.
When most people think of the Church of Laodicea, they think of the negative rather than the positive. We need to consider these great promises.
First, we need to see why they are so great. Then we need to understand how overcoming the negative things this Church confronted will produce some of the greatest overcomers, the greatest saints, the world has ever known.

The Church of Laodicea was so temporally prosperous that it caused them to become lukewarm, and made the Lord so sick that He would vomit them out of His mouth (Revelation 3:15-17). Being lukewarm is the worst condition a Christian can fall into. It reveals an ultimate contempt for the Lord. Indifference is the greatest affront to any relationship.

ZEAL FOR THE LORD

"Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent." - Revelation 3:19

The Lord called the Church at Laodicea to "therefore be earnest and repent" . We must recover and keep our zeal for the Lord if we are going to make it through these times. How do we do that?

The Lord sent fire from His presence to light the fire on the altar in both the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple that Solomon built. He then commanded the priests to KEEP THE FIRE GOING.

God has lit every fire in every heart that has ever turned to Him. However, He expects us to keep it going.

WE DO THIS BY:

prayer, worship, studying and affirming His written Word to us, fellowshipping with others who have the fire, being the witnesses we are called to be, and embracing God's PURPOSE for our life.

We lose the fire when we give ourselves to sin and wickedness. This leads to lawlessness as described in Romans 6. The Lord warned that lawlessness would cause the love of most to grow cold.

THE REMNANT PRINCIPLE

The remnant principle was at work when the resurrected Lord told five hundred people to go to Jerusalem to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit. However, just a few weeks later, there were only 120 gathered there. Yet that remnant was in "one accord" or unity.

As Abraham demonstrated, true faith grows stronger with the passage of time, not weaker. The passage of time between when the promise is given and the fulfillment of that promise will usually thin out the crowd by removing those who do not have true faith, but are just caught up in the excitement of the moment.

This does not mean that those with true faith will not waver sometimes too, but overall, true faith grows with the passage of time.

Is our faith growing stronger, or are we going to slip into the majority that drifts away?

People tend to draw their security by how many people are with them. True faith doesn't. True faith is faith in God, not how many people are with us. True faith is demonstrated by patience, which is why we are told that it is through "faith and patience" that we will inherit the promises.

"Then, knowing what lies ahead for you, you won't become bored with being a Christian, nor become spiritually dull and indifferent, but you will be anxious to follow the example of those who receive all that God has promised them because of their strong faith and patience." - Hebrews 6:12 (Living Bible)

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY