Church On Fire- Jaxon Atwood

Good morning, men and women, such an honor to be able to come to you again from Life Fellowship Church here in McKinney, Texas onto your tablet and whatever facility that you're at across the country. It's our honor and privilege and it's really a blessing to be able to speak into your life. My name is Logan Williams. My TDC number was 1490218. I have four numbers after that, round and round in the system, couldn't get off drugs, couldn't stop getting busted, couldn't stop going to jail and to prison and man, I just had a radical experience with Jesus and he just snatched me out of that. It's just like the Psalms say, he pulled me from the miry clay and set my feet on a rock. Now I had to do a lot of work to get there and stay there, but he did the heavy lifting. He's just looking for our yes and if you can give him your yes, anything is possible and I really, really want you to believe that. Hey, listen, we want you to tell your friends and family to download the same Pando app on their phone that you have. Y'all can watch the same messages, the same teachings. You can talk about it together and you can do this walk together, even though you're behind the wire and they're in the free, you can still walk with your family. You can still speak into their lives. You can still pray for them. You can still, Hey, what did you get out of that sermon? The same one I watched. These are really, really, really good conversations to have with your spouse and your, and your, your children. So please don't buy the lie that you can't leave your family because you're, you're incarcerated. That's just not true. It's just not true. All right, be sure and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss anything. Also I wanted to mention the inmate mail that we receive. We absolutely want you to send us letters.

We absolutely want to walk alongside you. We have a team of volunteers that responds and is mentors and, and, and this type of thing. We have women for women and we have men for men. Okay. We're not ever going to have a woman respond to a man and we're never ever going to have a man respond to a woman. So if you're writing the women here, the worship team, the other pastors or anybody that you see or, or happened to write a, maybe a speaker that you really liked what they said, um, it's fruitless because we've just had too much trouble with opposite sex engaging. And uh, if there's a policy at our church now, it's men on men, women on women. I just wanted to let you know that in case you were thinking about doing something like that, just don't even bother because they're not going to get the letter. Okay. It's gotta be a man to a man, woman to a woman. And we want to walk alongside you and we absolutely want to answer your questions, pray for you and respond and, and let you have that mentorship, uh, where you're at. It just has to be the right heart and the right motives. All right, man, this morning I was, I was reading in John chapter two and you know, that's, it begins with Jesus's first miracle. And I just kind of read through that miracle story and, and got a few downloads that I'd like to share with you. Um, some things that I hadn't really noticed. I'm just going to read, uh, the, the, the verses first and then we can kind of go through them really quickly. Um, because I know you're, you're ready for the message and we want you to have the message. It's a really good message this week. So first one says the next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana near in Galilee. Jesus's mother was there and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration.

The wine supply ran out during the festivals and Jesus's mother told him they have no more wine. Dear woman, that's not our problem. Jesus replied. My time has not yet come. But his mother told the servants, do whatever he tells you standing nearby. There were six stone water jars used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus told the servants, fill the jars with water. When the jars had been filled, he said, now dip some out and take it to the master of ceremonies. So the servants followed his instructions. When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from, though, of course the servants knew he called the bridegroom over a host always serves the best wine first. He said, then when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive one, but you have kept the best until now. This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him. His disciples believed in him. There's a lot here. Doesn't seem like a lot, but there really is. I got a lot of downloads. The first one, verse two, Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. It just shows that Jesus likes to participate in ordinary human celebrations. He wants a relationship with us,

and he wants to participate with you. He wants you to talk to him about the wins. He wants you to talk about the losses, but he wants you to talk about the wins too. He wants a relationship with you. He wants to participate in that. Verse three, the wine supplier ran out during the festival, so Jesus' mother told him they have no more wine. Back in the day in this culture, running out of wine at a wedding was a big, big epic fail for the wedding. Weddings were a big deal. They probably spent more time and effort planning weddings back then than they even do now. Well, some people have crazy weddings, but running out of wine was a serious social failure. It would bring shame. It would bring embarrassment on the family for years to come. Like everyone would remember so-and-so's wedding that, remember, they ran out of wine? Oh my God, that's so bad. You know, they would be gossiping. But I noticed something here. Mary, his mother, she just simply reports the need to Jesus without making a demand. She just says, she just says they have no more wine. They have no more wine. She didn't suggest how he solved that problem. She didn't give him outcomes.

She just simply reported the need. How do you pray when you pray to God? Do you report the need or do you prescribe a solution? Are you sitting there in county jail going, okay, God, man, I'm really sorry that I did this thing. Now I have this charge and it's hanging over my head and I'm really worried about it. God, send me a lawyer. Send me a good judge that's gonna have favor on me. Send me, give me favor with the jury. Give me, are we like trying to tell him how to solve our problem or are we just simply reporting the problem? Because a lot of times Jesus will answer prayers, but he'll do it in ways you'll never, ever, ever would think of, okay? And sometimes he wants to do a work in us through that first, okay? And so I wanna challenge you to not necessarily prescribe the solution, just bring your needs to Jesus. That's what Mary did. She, the posture, it's this posture of faith, simply bringing what we cannot fix to the one who can fix it, to the one who's omnipotent, who actually has the power to do something about it. Verse four, says, dear woman, that's not our problem. Jesus replied, my time is not yet come.

My hour has not yet come. Another translation says that Greek word is hora, H-O-R-A. And what it means is a certain indefinite time or season fixed by natural law, returning with the revolving year or the revolving season. So it's talking about a season, a time, okay? It's a term that John uses also referring to the cross and the glorification. This hour, this, it's not, my hour has not yet come. It's talking about, it is not my time in the season, okay? But what it does is when you understand that meaning, it smashes home that Jesus operates on the father's timetable and not his timetable and definitely not our timetable. And his timetable is better than ours. His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And we need to trust that. We need to trust that. It's funny, I had a crazy charge when I was incarcerated in 2009. It was a high-speed chase through a bunch of counties and then I wrecked and I get arrested. And I thought, man, I'm just gonna have an evading arrest, which is not. Too bad. It's like a it's like a lower class of felony But the DA looked at that and said man because you your car was going excessive speeds she put a finding on there of a deadly weapon a deadly weapon finding on this which cranks up the felony and Cranks up the the time that I could get and makes it aggravated. It's just that one little finding

Makes this tremendously different From a state jail felony that you could do up to two years. It was a Two to twenty and making it average aggravated which means you'll do half of it before you even come up It was huge and man. I prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed Forever I finally bonded out after two years and then it was like four more years before I actually went to court on that thing Aside for probation, but the deadly weapon sign Finding was on there. Meaning if I violate my probation I'm guilty and I'm getting the aggravated time and I violated the probation and now here I am back in jail for it again, and I'm still praying and I'm still praying over over a total of about six or seven Years, I never prayed for anything more than I prayed for this. Can you please God? somehow Get this aggravated off me get this deadly weapon finding off me, please and I'll give you all the praise and glory I'll tell everyone that you did it So I'm actually making good on that promise right now as I'm telling it to you and as it was getting closer to time That was it was getting To a point to where it looked like man, we're gonna have to go deal with this I had I'd violated probation and other counties as well and got time and been to TDC and was getting bench warranted back and bench warranted back And it was my time to now go to this county and I'm still praying very consistently very hard about this and and kovat happen All of a sudden the officers start coming to the jail with masks on we're like whoa. Whoa. Whoa, what's happening? Kovat happens everything gets shut down people get so scared to even bring people into their county jails at that time That you basically had to have a murder charge to even go to jail They would cite you and they would come get you later, but They were so scared to have me come in there That they just my lawyer said look he signed for eight years in this other County and They just wanted to see proof that I'd signed for something and was actually gonna go to prison and they just dismissed the case because they didn't want me to come in like He I'm not saying he created kovat to answer my prayers

But he definitely used kovat to answer my prayers He fixed that situation in a way that I would have never guessed I would have if you gave me a hundred thousand guesses, I would have never guessed well there's gonna be a Pandemic and they're gonna be scared and they're just gonna dismiss the case because they don't want me to be in the in the jail I'm telling you guys prayer works in mysterious ways First five but his mother told the servants do whatever he tells you Interestingly, this was Mary's last spoken word in John's gospel She points people towards Jesus and models complete surrender she simply says do what he says And I know we all want to be advice givers when our friends are going through stuff And I know we all want to want to try to fix and we all want to try to make people feel better But I'm I'm telling you the best thing we can do is Just say Do what he says pray Listen and then do what he says Do what he says? First six standing nearby were six stone water jars used for Jewish ceremonial Washing each could hold 20 to 30 gallons. So six times 30 is 180 gallons There's 180 gallons way more wine than anybody one could possibly drink Okay far more than what was needed and this is just an example I think of the God that we serve right this grace that's poured out on us this Generosity right this this expression of love, right? It's it's Overabundant it's almost wasteful in the generosity He loves us so much he just pours and pours and pours on us Verse 7 Jesus told the servants fill the jars with water when the jars have been filled

He said now dip some out and take it to the master of ceremonies. Okay? He told them to fill these giant stone jars, which were probably super heavy with water. It was probably a hassle They're probably thinking man. What does this have to do with this this problem that we have? We're out of wine and you want us to fill these time and effort to fill these giant jars with with water what what is that sometimes he's gonna ask us to do things that don't make sense when I came in man he saved me out of a hotel room I have a radical experience with him hopelessly addicted to drugs I gave away enough dope to keep me high for a long time walked out of there and he immediately asked me to lay down sexual sin and I'm thinking man what does that have to do with me staying clean like come on man can I just gave away all that dope can we just deal with one thing at a time and Jesus was like I don't want 90% of you I want all of you and then he backdoors it with imagine what your life could be like if you just got all the way in so he asked us to do things that at times don't make sense at times seem like a big hassle and what is this gonna actually do but this is how he is and it's laid out in the scriptures right here and then they went and took this took that took dipped it out and presented it to the took to the the ceremony master he's asking them to do something that could cause them it exposes them to risk and ridicule like if I go and present water to this master of servants not only are we gonna be a laughingstock for running out of wine but you just gave me a cup of water like what is wrong with you like he's exposing the to risk present presenting that water to the master as if it was wine like that that could that was risky that was risky he's gonna ask us to do risky things he's gonna ask us to do things that put us out there maybe you want to heal somebody maybe you want to God's place a gift of healing on you okay and then you see someone sick or injured and you go over them and say be healed in Jesus name well what if they're not healed what if I'm made out to look like a fool what if you have a prophetic word for someone but you're scared to say it to them because what if it's totally off what if what if it's wrong what if he asks us to get out there and trust him he asks us to have

faith in him he asks us to do hard things and that's what I want you guys to to get down in your down in your heart man down in your spirit this walk is not going to be easy but this walk is so good it's it's it's simple but not easy it's difficult but it's so rewarding because I'm telling you there's nothing that touches being used by God verse 9 when the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine not knowing where to come from he called the bridegroom over a host always serves the best wine first and then when everyone has had a lot to drink he brings out the less expensive wine but you've kept the best until last this is a profound statement it's a theological statement it describes the entire gospel story right the world offers its best first it offers pleasure it offers achievement it offers money success the things of the flesh but they're always a disappointment in the end they never fulfill although they always promise to fulfill sexual sin and pornography and all that you just think that you're gonna be so fulfilled if I can just get this one thing this one person this one little set of circumstances and then it never is it never is and then you want more you want more extreme you want it's just a it's a vicious cycle that's the world but but Jesus brings the best last the kingdom's wine gets better and better and better and it always fulfills and it always satisfies so that's just a few nuggets that I got out of John chapter 2 verse 1 through 13 the Jesus's first miracle guys you can be his next miracle you can be his next miracle right now you can you can surrender you can get all in you can lay down that thing that he's been telling you to lay down but you've been ignoring it because what does it really matter I mean I'm going to church I'm doing I'm reading my Bible but I don't want to fight against that sin I don't want to wage war against that sin I don't want to strive to live a righteous life I want to say to you what he said to me imagine what your life could be like if you just got all the way in one time father we love you and we thank you we praise you Lord for all that you've done all that you've done in our lives all that you're doing and all the people who are watching God we

We just wanna just exalt your name today. We just love you so much. And God, I'm just praying a blessing over everyone who's watching. I'm praying exceedingly and abundantly above all they can think or ask over whoever's watching. And God, I pray for a convicting spirit of what do they need to lay down? What do they need to do? You're always calling us higher. You're always calling us to more. And God, if there's anyone there that doesn't know you, that's watching, God, I pray that they would just call upon the name of Jesus. It says in Romans, anyone who calls upon his name will be saved. If you've never done that, it's just that simple. You can just cry out to him. You can just say, Jesus, I'm calling on your name because your word says that anyone that calls on your name will be saved. And I might not understand it, and I might not can explain it. I might not even believe it, but I'm holding you to your word. And you say in your word that anyone who calls on your name is saved. So I'm saying I'm a sinner and I need you, Jesus. God, I pray that those people that wanna, they're thinking about saying that prayer

could realize what a powerful prayer that that is. That yes, you turned water into wine, and that was an amazing miracle, but you can do even more and more impactful, amazing miracles than it can be right now with the next person that calls upon your name. And so we thank you, and we love you, and we just invite you into our lives to do what only you can do. In Jesus' name, amen. Whose house? God's house. Let's give him some praise. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. May the Lord be with you. Amen, amen, amen.

Let's dance. ♪ Come now, ride ♪ ♪ Daughter's sides ♪ ♪ Tribes and tongues, let's start singing ♪ ♪ Sweeter sound than freedom found ♪ ♪ Make it loud, let's start singing ♪ Come on, let's celebrate. ♪ Celebrate the king seated on the throne ♪ ♪ The glory is yours forever ♪ ♪ Celebrate the son, look at what he's done ♪ ♪ The blood of the lamb comes over his head ♪ ♪ His days are still ahead ♪ Come on. ♪ It's just getting started ♪ Who's excited to hear that this morning? Let's go. ♪ The mountains sway ♪ ♪ Strongholds break ♪ ♪ Over every grave, hear us singing ♪ Sing celebrate. ♪ Celebrate the king seated on the throne ♪ ♪ The glory is yours forever ♪ ♪ Celebrate the son, look at what he's done ♪ ♪ The blood of the lamb comes over his head ♪ ♪ Celebrate the king seated on the throne ♪ ♪ The glory is yours forever ♪ ♪ Celebrate the son, look at what he's done ♪ ♪ The blood of the lamb comes over his head ♪ ♪ The greatest thing I've seen in my day ♪ ♪ It's just getting started ♪

Woo! I think I'm crazy with him this morning. Give Him my praise. Give Him my praise. Give Him my praise. Give Him my praise. Give Him my praise. Give Him my praise. Praise, give Him our praise, Sing it out, Give Him our praise, Give Him our praise, Give Him our praise, For God, You are worthy of praise, Give Him our praise, Give Him our praise, Give Him our praise, Celebrate the King seated on the throne, The glory is Yours forever, Celebrate the Son, look at what He's done, The blood of the Lamb has overflown, Celebrate the King seated on the throne, The glory is Yours forever, Celebrate the Son, look at what He's done, The blood of the Lamb has overflown, The greatest days are still ahead, It's just getting started, For who's to praise the loudest praise, It's just getting started, Who else is holy and matchless in glory, Is worthy, is worthy of highest praise? Who else is holy and matchless in glory, Is worthy, is worthy of highest praise? Who else is holy and matchless in glory, Is worthy, is worthy of highest praise? Who else is holy and matchless in glory, Is worthy, is worthy of highest praise? Who else is holy and matchless in glory, Is worthy, is worthy of highest praise? Who else is holy and matchless in glory, Is worthy, is worthy, is worthy, is worthy? Is worthy, is worthy, is worthy, is worthy, is worthy? Celebrate the King seated on the throne, The glory is yours forever. Celebrate the Son, look at what He's done, The blood of the Lamb has flown. Celebrate the King seated on the throne, The glory is yours forever. Celebrate the Son, look at what He's done, The blood of the Lamb has flown. The reigning days are still ahead, It's just getting started. Our lips will raise the loudest praise. It's just getting started. Celebrate the King seated on the throne, The glory is yours forever. Celebrate the King seated on the throne, The blood of the Lamb has flown. We are here, waiting for you. Spirit come, come fill this room. Come on, let's sing this together. We are here, waiting for you. Spirit come, come fill this room. And all we want is for you to be here. And when you come, you change the atmosphere. Come on, let's sing it for His presence. Holy Spirit. Come like fire, Holy Spirit, fall afresh on us Holy Spirit, we are ready Holy Spirit, you're our one desire

I will long for your presence to come We are here waiting for Spirit come, come on this moment We are here waiting for you Spirit come, do something new All we want is for you to be here When you come, you change the atmosphere All we want is for you to be here When you come, you change the atmosphere Holy Spirit, come like fire Holy Spirit, fall afresh on us We ask for more Holy Spirit, we're so ready for you to come Holy Spirit, you're our one desire I still cry for more So come before me my Holy Spirit Come on you all, release your pride Declare your soul for more here Your presence Lord, is what we're after When you draw me, nothing else matters We're desperate for a move from you Reveal yourself, reveal yourself Your presence Lord, is what we're after When you draw me, nothing else matters We're desperate for a move from you Reveal yourself, reveal yourself Your presence Lord, is what we're after When you draw me, nothing else matters We're desperate for a move from you Reveal yourself, reveal yourself

Your presence Lord, is what we're after When you draw me, nothing else matters We're desperate for a move from you Reveal yourself, reveal yourself Holy Spirit, come on fire Holy Spirit, come on fire Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit We are ready Christ is Lord is what we're after when you come in, nothing else matters as Christ is Lord. Christ is Lord is what we're after when you come in, nothing else matters as Christ is Lord. Your presence, your presence, your presence Lord is what we're after when you draw near, nothing else matters we're desperate for a move from you, reveal yourself, reveal yourself. Holy Spirit, come like fire. Holy Spirit, fall afresh on us. Holy Spirit, we are ready. Holy Spirit, you're our one desire. Come on, if you just, in your own words, would you declare to the Lord how hungry you are for Him, how desperate you are for Him. Lord, we need you. Lord, it's more than a song, it's our prayer, it's our request, Lord, it's the longing of our hearts, God, that we're desperate for you. That if you don't come, Lord, nothing's going to change, everything's going to stay the same. But the moment that your presence comes, Lord, the moment that your presence comes, everything changes, Lord. And the desire of our hearts is to say, better is one day in your course than a thousand elsewhere. Better is one day, one day, one second with you, everything changes. Oh, come on, express your desperation to the Lord, express your desperation to the Lord. Oh, we need you, Lord, we need you, Lord. We need more, we need more, we need more. We need more, we need more, we need more. Come on, declare this to the Holy Spirit. We need more, we need more, we need more. We need more, we need more, we need more. Your presence. Your presence, Lord, is what we're after. When you draw the ache, nothing else matters, we're desperate for you. Revive yourself.

Your presence, Lord, is what we're after. When you draw the ache, nothing else matters, we're desperate for a hope for you. Revive yourself, revive yourself. Holy Spirit, come like fire. Come on, you sing. Holy Spirit, come afresh in us. Holy Spirit, we are ready. Holy Spirit, your heart's desire. and thoughts fell into your hands fullness of joy everything suddenly watered you in your presence all of my gains now fade away every crowd no longer on this place you in your presence heavenly trembling and all of you wonder the kings and their kingdoms are standing amidst you in your presence we are one you in your presence heaven and earth become one you in your presence all things are new you in your presence

everything bows before you everything bows before you we're joy with the living creatures we're the angels whisper the very best words into you fell in your hands fullness of joy everything suddenly watered you come before your presence confess yourself to the Lord and all of my gains now fade away every crowd no longer on this place you in your presence heaven heaven is trembling and all of you wonder the kings and their kingdoms are standing amidst you in your presence we are one you in your presence heaven and earth become one you in your presence everything's new you in your presence everything bows before you we're joy with the living creatures we're joy with the angels

if we release a new sound of praise a new sound of worship to the king of glory to the one who deserves you are wonderful you're beautiful you're glorious you're matchless in every way wonderful you're matchless in every way wonderful beautiful you're glorious you're matchless in every way wonderful In the name of Jesus, on the revelation of the saints And you are wonderful, you're beautiful, you're glorious You match this in every way, you're wonderful Wonderful, you're beautiful, you're glorious You match this in every way, you're wonderful You're beautiful, you're glorious You match this in every way Here in your presence, we are undone Here in your presence, heaven and earth become one And here in your presence, all things are new And here in your presence, everything bows before you Here in your presence, Lord, just stay in this moment of worship 2 Corinthians 3.17 reminds us that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom And in that next verse it says, and then we with unveiled faces, meaning nothing between God and I Are being transformed from this image into the image of God

So as we seek his presence, we are undone Meaning there isn't anything in your life that God can't fix, make better, repair, or completely change Let's pray, Lord, we thank you for this amazing time of getting together We thank you for this opportunity to worship as one body Father, I pray that you would just continue to work in every mind, body, and spirit here Lord, we thank you for the amazing children that are on their way We thank you for the families-to-be Lord, we thank you that you are bringing everybody closer to your heart So Father, we pray for your presence, your strength, and your wisdom In Jesus' name we pray, Amen Take a seat, go ahead and have a seat My name is Robert, I'm one of the pastors here at Life Fellowship Church Where we are one church in many locations I want to go ahead and dismiss the crew, which is for our 6th, 7th, and 8th graders You are welcome to meet Mr. Ryan over here, Daniel It's going to be an amazing time Parents, we're going to make sure we give them lots of sugar, good luck with that later It's going to be a good time, I can see Ryan shaking his head, no Robert, we teach, ok cool It's going to be an amazing day, we have a guest speaker here today, Pastor Jackson I didn't even have to say that, you guys are awesome This is an incredible man of God, one I really enjoy hanging out with, talking to, getting to know But really what I love is that he serves the Lord with everything in him It's an amazing joy to watch him grow and see him over the couple of years that I've known him And just how much I've seen God work in his heart and his family It's going to be an amazing time, so without further ado, let's watch the message Happy Sunday and welcome to Life Fellowship Church, we're so glad you're here with us today If you're new, tap your phone on the tag in front of your chair Or if you're joining online, text the word NEW to 51010 We'd love to help you get connected and show you everything happening around Life Fellowship And what's coming up next

Hey, if Life Fellowship already feels like home, serving is how you can make it home for someone else From kids to students, behind the scenes there's a spot with your name on it Jump in and be a part of what God's doing here If you've been coming for a bit but still feel a little on the outside, this is your move Life groups are where this church starts to feel smaller and more personal Find a group, show up, and watch what happens In Matthew 6, Jesus says, where your treasure is, there your heart will also be So giving isn't just about money, it's about alignment It's about saying, God I trust you with every part of my life And every week we see what that fruit produces Lives being changed, students finding purpose, families being strengthened That's what your generosity fuels So as you give today, do it from a place of faith, not pressure Thank you for responding as God leads you today Hey, before you grab your seat, turn to someone next to you, give them a high five And let's prepare our hearts for all God wants to do today Enjoy the service Good morning Life Fellowship family, how are we doing today? What an honor to be in the house of the Lord, and I have the great honor of continuing our series on the Rock, but before we jump into that, it is Memorial Day weekend, and so I really just wanted to give honor to those who served and who gave their life for this country, this great country that allows us to be here and worship freely like we do, and so we just want to be grateful and remember that sacrifice. I also want to pray real quick for their families and those who were left behind when they gave that ultimate sacrifice so we could worship freely, so let's pray. Lord I thank you, God, that we live in a great country, God, where we get to come here and worship you freely, and we recognize that that was bought with a price, so Lord we pray for the families of those who are affected, those who are here, God I pray that you are the comforter to the broken hearted, God, and I pray that they could find joy in you, it would be something that would draw them closer to you, and we just remember that,

in your name we pray, amen. Amen, well today is Pentecost Sunday, and so I was entrusted with that honor, yeah, we're excited, we're excited to be here, and so a little bit about myself because you're probably wondering who is this guy on the stage right now. My name is Jackson Atwood, I'm the associate pastor, love you too Obie, I'm the associate pastor of missions and operations here at Life Fellowship Church, which just means I have the honor of helping oversee our facilities department, and then helping with all of our global missions, so mission trips, supporting missionaries, everything like that. A little bit about myself, I've been coming to Life Fellowship since I was 8 years old, so I grew up here, this is family, this is home for me, I'm recently engaged to my beautiful fiancee Taimi, so thank you, all it means is we have the stress of wedding planning right now, so that's amazing. Again, before I get into the message, I just want to honor the house, you guys are one amazing, ever since I walked in here I just felt the love and the presence of God, but I also want to honor your pastors, pastors John and Jan, they love you, they've dedicated their lives to you, let's give it up to them. They're here every weekend to serve you, and then y'all know because they meet with you one on one, it's more than just a weekend, they truly are dedicated to you and love you, and so I just want to honor them and honor this great opportunity to have and share the word of God. So, Pastor John, the reason he's not here today, he's speaking at our McKinney campus, and so I'm bringing the word here. I know y'all are used to Dr. Professor Reverend John, but today you got me, so I don't have a doctorate, at least not yet, so kind of got the short of the stick, but I know that the Lord has a powerful message, a powerful word for us today, so who's ready to hear the word of God? Okay, okay, good. So, like I said, we're still continuing the series On the Rock, and so Pastor John presented and he said, Jackson, we're going to speak on what it means to be a church on fire, because it's Pentecost Sunday, right?

So we got to talk about that Holy Spirit fire, and so, but when I was thinking about that, of what it means to be a church on fire, first I want to like explain what do we mean when we say fire of the Holy Spirit, because I feel like sometimes we're in church and we just like hear church stuff, but like, we don't know what it means, but we're also like not going to be the person who asks, so we're like, oh yeah, Holy Spirit fire, I love that stuff, it's great, but we don't really know what's going on, so I'm going to highlight in the Bible, fire is symbolic for a lot of things, it's used a lot of different ways, but particularly for this, I want to highlight four ways, and I'm just, I'm excited, I was in the word, the Lord has burned in my heart for this, I'm very excited to jump into it, so we're going to talk about, one, it's presence, it's purification, it's passion, and it's power, because, you know, when you're preaching a sermon, you have to have all of them start with the same letter, you know, so I was like, synonyms for love, you know, so that's what we're going to be talking about today, and I'm going to jump in right away with presence. He encounters us, and so, being the day of Pentecost, we're going to be reading out of Acts 2, so, is that on the screen? Okay, Acts 2, we got the scripture for everybody, who here has their Bible with them? We got the word of God, amen, okay, I want to read this for you, but first, I want to talk about Hebrews 4, 12, it says that the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, it pierces between soul and spirit, and it discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart, so let's pray real quick before we get into the word. Lord, I pray that that would be true for us today, that this word would pierce our hearts, that we would not just be hearers of the word, but we would be doers of the word. Let our hearts be good soil for this word to be planted in, God, I pray that we would decrease so you could increase in our lives, in your name we pray, amen. Alright, Acts 2, verse 1, on the day of Pentecost, all the believers were meeting together in one place, suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house they were sitting. but looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit

and began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. First, I wanna pause real quick and say, tongues of fire descending on people. Like, could you imagine you're in worship and you're just like, you look over at Jonathan and there's just like a flaming tongue coming down. That would be a crazy experience. But you see here that that fire, that flames of tongues, it's just representing the presence of God falling on his people. And what's very unique about this versus what they would have been used to from knowing the Old Testament, knowing how God's presence rested in places and everything like that, it says it filled them. And the difference is, in the Old Testament, you see fire also representing God's presence, right? You got the burning bush with Moses, you've got him leading the Israelites with the cloud during the day and the pillar of fire at night. So we see that it represents his presence. But one distinct difference is in the Old Testament, his presence always rested in places, not in people. And so when we see in Acts 2 where he's filling his people, we're seeing the new church being born and we're seeing our relationship, how we relate with God being flipped. It's no longer where you have to go to a place

to encounter the Lord. And back in the Old Testament, the average person didn't even get to go into the presence. It was the priest. And you know what they would do? They would actually tie a rope around his ankle because if you entered the presence of God and you had any sin in you, you would literally drop dead. So they have like a rope so they could, if he died, they could like literally pull the body out. Like that's how holy God is. And so if you were to tell someone from the Old Testament, something that we today take for granted, we say, yeah, the Holy Spirit lives inside us. I have a personal relationship with God. Their brains would have melted. They would have been like, what are you talking about? And so we see in Acts 2, there's this total shift of it's not just a feeling, it's relationship. A lot of times we talk about the presence of God. We talk about the feeling like, oh, an encounter. And there are a lot of times you can feel the Lord, you can have those encounters. But what I really wanna talk about with a church on fire when it comes to presence, is presence is just a constant awareness of his proximity. The Holy Spirit was in this room before we got here. The Holy Spirit lives inside of you. The Bible says the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is living in you.

So I believe a church on fire is aware of God's presence all the time. They're aware that they don't have to go to church to be in presence. They are the church and they carry the presence with them. You carry the presence of God everywhere you go. And a little bit of thing about presence, when I was thinking about presence and it's not a feeling and it's like awareness of somebody's proximity, I thought about my fiancee, Taimi, which you're probably gonna hear me mention her a few times during my message. I'm a man in love, what can I say? So I'm gonna talk about it. But my last job, I got the privilege of working from home and not every day, but there were some days where the last few hours while I was working, she would come over and she would just be in the room working on homework, because she recently graduated from DBU. And so she'd be working on homework there. We were together, our proximities were close, but I was working on the monitor and she was like behind it. So we weren't talking, I couldn't see her, but I knew she was there. And that shifted how I thought, it shifted how I felt, it shifted my perspective. I mean, there's certain people, like when you're around, you're in line, you know what I'm saying?

It shifted how I talk, the way I act. The Holy Spirit is always near you. And when you have that awareness of his proximity, when you have that awareness that you carry that power and authority, it changes the way that you walk. It changes the way you act, it changes the way you talk. And for me, a church on fire is aware of God's presence. They're aware it's not a feeling, it's relationship. He's invited you to be his best friend. He has invited you to be his best friend. This is God, the creator of the universe. And he wants to know you intimately, personally. I'm glad I was born in the New Testament, not the Old Testament. And presence always leads to purification because when we have an awareness of his proximity, when we have an awareness that, hey, like we're walking with God, something inside of us should change. If it's not, we got an issue. There should be something in us that's moving, something that's shifting. And so the next thing I wanna talk about is purification. Now, when I talk about God's purification for the church, there's two things that come to mind, but real quick. I'm going to read John 16 8 and he says and when he comes talking about the Holy Spirit, he will convict the world of its sin and of God's righteousness and of the coming judgment. And so one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to convict is to purify the church. And there's there's two types of purification.

So you've got salvation and sanctification. So again, church words, I'm going to explain them. Don't worry. Don't worry. When you're initially had that encounter, when you're initially filled with the Holy Spirit, when you have that encounter with the Lord and you accept Jesus into your heart, your dedicate your life to him, you're accepting Jesus's righteousness for your unrighteousness. There's a great exchange that happens. You have now have right standing with God. So when God sees you, righteous, righteous, blameless, you have been washed by the blood of the Lord. And actually, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit is the seal of your salvation. And so now, OK, I'm saved. I've been washed by the blood, the Holy Spirit. I've been cleansed. The Holy Spirit lives inside of me. That's the seal. I know I'm good. Then sanctification starts. And so this is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And that fancy word just means becoming more and more like Jesus. It's like the Holy Spirit is renewing our mind daily. He's taking out all the culture, the mess, the family problems, every thought patterns. Slowly over time, we're becoming more and more like Jesus. And this is a ministry of the Holy Spirit. It's not something we can brute force. It's not something we can do ourselves. But it's the fire of God slowly purifying us. And every believer will continue being sanctified until eternity, until we're completed in heaven and perfected.

So if somebody is out here acting like they're perfect, that's where they're being purified. Let's put it that way. This is the process of sanctification. Again, it's where so our brains are almost wired by the culture, right? So even though we're already in God's eyes, we're aligned with his word and God's eyes was righteous. And so when I talked about sanctification, I wanted to be very clear that this is not earning God's love. This is not earning your salvation. Salvation was a free gift that Jesus won for us on the cross. It's given to us. You're purified. But this is the honor, the privilege of becoming more like him, of becoming more in his image. And I love how Malachi 3 says it says he is like a refiner's fire. And that image. So Malachi was actually written after Israel had returned from exile. The priests were corrupt. They had been influenced by these secular cultures. The people were complacent. The worship had become stale for the Lord. And so that is when the context of when Malachi 3 is coming in and we get this image of a refiner and a little context in case you didn't know. So refiners, they would refine things like gold and silver. And so they would use extreme heat like a furnace picture, like a big furnace, lots of fire, big heat. And they would purify this gold and silver. What the heat would do, it was, it would bring up all the imperfections and that way they could remove it, refining it, making it more clear. Sometimes that silver and gold requires more heat than others. I know when the Lord got me, he was like, Michael, throw some more coals on the fire.

We got some work to do with this one. But you know how the refiner would know when it was finished? It was clear enough to reflect his image. The Holy Spirit's fire is purifying us so we can reflect his image more and more. Sometimes we're like, God, why the heat? Why the struggle? Why the pain? You're becoming more like me. I can see your image in me more. I mean, we want to talk about someone who went through suffering. Let's think about Jesus, the son of suffering. And so we have a high priest that knows our struggles, that knows our pain, that walks with us. And so when you feel like you're in that fire, when you feel like, man, I can't handle this. This is too much. Know that he's not going to break you. He's refining you. So I would challenge you is in the midst of trial, look for God. God, what are you teaching me? Because if those impurities don't get removed, guess what? You're going back in the fire. So let's learn the lesson the first time. I'm a little bit stubborn, so I get thrown in the fire like six times before I'm good. And a practical word we use to describe this process of the Holy Spirit purifying us is conviction. And again, that's really conviction. What it's not is not condemnation. So condemnation is from the enemy. Condemnation looks at you and says, well, you messed up, so you're not good. You can't go to the Lord.

There's shame. You want to hide it. You want to cover it up. You'll never be what God has called you to be. Condemnation is always going to push you away from God. It's going to pull you down. It's going to shame you. Conviction is the Holy Spirit saying, hey, you're called higher. This isn't who you are in me. I'm going to give you the power. I'm going to pull you out. Turn around. If you just turn around, I'm going to pull you out of this. If you just turn around, I will take away, I will help you with that habit. I will help you with that sin. Just come to me. There is a higher calling for your life. And the sad thing that I see with a lot of Christians today is we've become masters at ignoring the voice of the Holy Spirit. Is it okay if I step on a little bit of toes today? Like, it's okay? Y'all seem a little quieter. Y'all scared? I promise I'm not going to do anything crazy. Well, maybe, but it's like, you know, the people who always have their notifications silenced. So you try and text them, but they're like a celebrity. So you can't get ahold of them. Right. You know what I'm talking about? How often have we, we've done that to the Holy Spirit? He's inside of us. He's trying to do his work of sanctification, but it's uncomfortable. And so we choose the silence over being uncomfortable. It's like we, we ignore him. We ignore his voice. We harden our hearts to the Holy Spirit. What a scary place to be. What a scary place to be where we've hardened so much that we can't even hear his voice. Conviction is so important in the life of a believer. And it's that tug of the Holy Spirit of, Hey, I'm calling you higher. I'm calling you out of this. Don't do that or do this. But we, some often, often we choose being comfortable over being challenged by the Holy Spirit. That's why we need accountability. So I, you hear that word in church, accountability, accountability, accountability. And they're like, I don't know. I don't know about that. Cause it's like, well, does that mean like somebody has got to be in my mess and in my business? Yeah. You know why? Because when you're in that spot where you're ignoring the Holy Spirit, you're covering your ears. You put them on silent. They're going to like, what are you doing? What are you doing? We need those people in our life. Those watchmen that can tell us when

we're being dumb. Cause we all do it when they can tell us when they're like, I don't know that that wasn't quite your character. That thing that you said to your wife, that wasn't cool or Hey, yeah, you may have made success in this business, but how'd you do that? You kind of undercut that person. Didn't you? We need people that can hit us when we need it. You know what I'm saying? Like a wounds from a friend are trustworthy. The Bible says that. And so we need people because you don't want to walk alone. Community can keep when motivation. So when we're in that season where we're, the Lord is trying to purify us and we're not listening. We need those people that are going to pray for you. Those people who are going to hold you accountable and people who are going to encourage you and support you. We were never designed to walk alone because I mean, for me, and just to give a practical example, I was in church my whole life. Like I said, I was in church before. I mean, I, my first memory was in a church. I'm pretty sure. Like, I think I was born inside the church building, but not very sanitary, but I think that's what happened. I didn't really see a ton of like actual depth and spiritual growth and like growing in my relationship until I got a community of believers in my life. And that was maybe when I was like 19, 20, 18, around that time. Y'all are like, so what this year? No, but it was when I had those people around me that would encourage me when I was scared, who would call me out when I was being dumb, who would pray for me that I begin to actually grow closer to the Lord. And I actually begin to deepen my faith. I would not be on this stage today if I had not invited people in to my life to hold me accountable. And it's uncomfortable and it's hard, but it's necessary because the truth is nobody's immune to the attack of the enemy. I don't care if you've been, you're 80 years old, you've been a believer your whole life. If you're a newborn Christian, if you're a pastor, it does not matter. Guess what? The enemy has more experience than you. He's been doing it for thousands of years. You need the safety of the flock because the Bible says he's prowling around like a roaring lion. And so in the Bible, I think I was thinking of imagery, right? I was like, okay, the devil's like prowling around like a roaring lion. It says the Lord is our shepherd and that we're sheep. So I'm a sheep. He's a lion. I probably don't want to take him head on by myself. A good thing I've got the shepherd. I've got my flock. I'm good. So I want to, I want you to picture with me. Psalm 23, you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death. You've got the shepherd leading. You're with your flock of sheep. And in the shadow, there's a lion. He's prowling around. He's just waiting. He's waiting for that sheep.

Oh, that's shiny. Oh, what's that right on the edge of the path? That looks cool. Just walk right here on the edge. Oh, what's that going over here? He's waiting. He's waiting for you to be. alone, so the lion can pluck you off. There is safety in your flock, there is safety in proximity to the shepherd. You need the other sheep around you that are going to be like, get back over here, what are you doing? You need that because there is going to be things. Some people out here are thinking we are like some special super commando sheep and we can go walk in the shadow and be fine by ourselves. Do you want to be friends with the lion? I don't want to be in proximity to the lion, I want to be in proximity to the shepherd. Don't walk alone because you need people to hold you accountable, to pray for you and encourage you. If you fall by yourself, you are in trouble, you fall with a friend, they can pick you up. Make sense? Okay, cool. A church on fire is purified by the blood, walks by conviction is being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In my opinion, one of the clearest signs that your heart is being purified is actually love for people. I want to talk about passion, he burdens us. In 1 Corinthians 13, 1-3 it says, if I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but I don't have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and I can fathom all the mysteries and all the knowledge and if I have faith that can move mountains, how often are we praying for faith that move mountains but not love? But I don't have love, I am nothing. If I give everything I possess to the poor and give my body to hardship, that I may boast, but I don't have love, I gain nothing. And so Paul was writing to the church in Corinth and they were extremely gifted church. So they're the church that's very popular, they have all the gifts of the spirit, like people are getting healed, like there's all these cool things happening, they've got the boat, they've got all this stuff, they serve, you know, they're doing the checklist of like, you look at them, they're like, yeah, he's American Christian, he goes to church, he puts a smile on his face, they were doing all the things, but they were very spiritually immature. They lacked love and unity. And Paul is trying to tell them like, hey, you've missed the whole point. Those gifts, all the things that you have, if they're not rooted in love, they mean nothing. And when I think of love, I think of sacrifice. Because when I think of who is the most loving being, it's God. And if he is the utmost epitome of love, it's not even that he's the most loving, it's that he is love itself. If he is love itself, then he would have the greatest action of love.

That's the cross. It was the greatest act of love that's ever been recorded in mankind, that he would humble himself, he would empty himself out, he would be born as a man, that he would be beat, crucified for our sins. It is the greatest love story you'll ever read. What was it? It was sacrifice. So if the greatest act of love is sacrifice, then love requires action. Love requires sacrifice. It's easy to burn when it doesn't cost you something. It's easy to love from afar. It's easy to say, I'll pray for you. That's awesome. We should pray for people. But it even talks about, I believe it's in James, it says, you say you pray for them, but you don't meet their need. Your brother's going without clothing. You say, oh, I'll pray for you, but you don't give him a shirt. What good is that? You have the means to help. And I sadly believe that we've gotten such an apathetic heart in the Christian church in America. There's such this, I come to Sunday, I get my fill of the word, I go back and I need to live my life. I got to work on my job, my finances, my family. I've got things to do. I've got people to take care of. Let me just take care of my small circle here. And that's good. The Lord honors you being a good steward of what he's given you in your life. But who are we supposed to model our life after? Jesus Christ. Jesus. How many of our lives look like Jesus's life? I'm talking to myself, by the way, it may seem like I'm kind of like this. I'm talking to myself. The Lord has so convicted me with this word of like, I just get so focused on, hey, get through these days, do my work, go on the weekend, enjoy myself, hang out with my fiance, wedding plan, like do all these things. I get it. Life is busy, but it's allowed us to be complacent and it's allowed us to turn an eye to what's actually happening in the world around us. Something that I'm trying to work on that I can be really bad about is I can often be a projects over people kind of person, where if I have something going on that I need to do, like, let's say, for example, for those volunteers that are here setting up for Anna every week, you know, you come in, you're like, hey, speakers need to get set up, stage needs to get set up. When I'm in an environment like that, I'm like a robot. I'm like, boom, boom, boom, just set up, boom, just set up, do everything. And I can miss the people. God is always people over projects. Always, always, always. is always, always. His love for people is the greatest mission that we can inherit.

Because if you have gifts without love, it's nothing. If you have knowledge without love, it's nothing. And so it's that driving force that causes us to act. We don't just check a box, we really care for people. And what I would say is you need God to do this. You need the fire of the Holy Spirit, that love, that passion burning within you to actually really care about people because we're all selfish by nature. Our default is self-centered. And so we need something to counter that nature. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit. So something I would challenge us is to pray, to pray God. One, help me to love you because we can't even love God without his help. And help me to love people. And then one thing I wanna talk about is when love urges you to act, it's actually God's power that gives your legs movement. And so when first he encounters you, he cleanses you, he burdens you, and then he empowers and sends you. The fire of God is not meant just for your life. You are merely a vessel. And so if you're focused on what it can do for you, you've missed the point. Acts 1.8, it says you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. The fire of the Holy Spirit empowers believers for the mission. Acts 4.31, they were filled with the Holy Spirit

and spoke the word of God boldly. Fire produces boldness, witness, strength when we are weak. So that power of the Holy Spirit is what allowed Peter to go from the guy that was denying Jesus three times to a little girl because he was afraid of what people thought to Pentecost happens, everyone's filled with the fire of the Holy Ghost. It's amazing. They're speaking all these different languages, people from all around the world because it was Pentecost originally happened during a Jewish festival. And so all Jews from around the world were in Jerusalem. And so they're like, whoa, these guys are speaking our language. They must be drunk, what's going on? Now, Peter, the guy who denied Jesus stands up and says, it's not in the morning, it's way too early for that guys. This is what the scriptures wrote about, preaches boldly and thousands of people get saved. What was the difference? The Holy Spirit, the power and the fire of the Holy Spirit. So in my eyes, a church on fire, they walk with compassion, but they walk with fire. They walk with power. They stand against the culture and they stand for truth in love. Two, you've got grace over here

and you've got love over here. It almost feels impossible to put them together and it is without God. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us. So when we're standing against the culture, we're standing with grace and love, but we're standing in power and truth. And we will not compromise the word of God to curry favor with people. And within that, there may be fear, there may be all these things. And I want to remind us that He is the source. It really has nothing to do with us. And in my own life, a personal testimony for me is, I struggled for a long time of fear of failure. I thought I wasn't smart enough, I wasn't good enough. I didn't want to try things because I was like, oh, I'm not smart enough, I'm not gonna succeed. I can't do that. There's no way. And Psalm 23, I mean, probably one of the most famous passages in the Bible for a reason. I was reading it and the translation, I was reading it says, the Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. And there was like this epitome in my mind, like the Holy Spirit made it made sense. You'll ever have that moment, you read a scripture your whole life, and then one time the Holy Spirit's like, boom,

and smacks you upside the head and you actually finally get it. That's what happened to me. And it was in a season of great anxiety and fear. I just started college. I was going through a lot. And the Lord literally was like, Jackson, it has nothing to do with you. You don't have to be good enough. You don't have to be smart enough. You don't have to know what you're doing. You just have to say, yes, it will be my strength. It will be my wisdom. It will be my ability. I just need a vessel. That's all you are is a vessel. So it was extremely humbling and extremely like, I felt like the weight of anxiety and fear of failure, like just gone. Because I was like, oh, you know what the Bible calls us? Sheep. A little something about sheep in case you didn't know. They're dumb. Okay? All they know how to do is follow the shepherd. All they know is the voice of the shepherd. That's your only job. So maybe today you're wanting, you're having a passion, you're having a burning, you want to live for the Lord.

You want to stand up for your faith at your job. You want to stand up at your college your friend circles. And you're like, oh, I don't know if I'm going to say the right thing. There's this fear. There's this anxiety. Just do it. The Lord just needs your yes. It's not about you. It's not about you. That might be the theme of the message. It is not about you. I had a plan to talk a lot about like Stephen because I feel like he's a great example of what it means to be a church on fire. But Pastor John recently preached on Stephen I heard, but apparently some people weren't paying attention fully because I got to talk about him again. But I just, in Acts when it talks about him, I just love it because he was just in charge of the food tables. That's what he did. He made sure that the widows got their food. Yeah, when it talks about him, when it names the seven who did it, he's the only one that says the man of God full of strength and wisdom. It says everywhere he went, he prayed for people and miracles and signs and wonders happened.

It said that people came to debate him and tried to tear down Jesus and that belief. And it said none could stand against him because of his wisdom and his elegance of speech. This is the dude that was just in charge of the food table. This is the dude that was just the greeter that was just serving the coffee, that was just serving in kids. That to me is an example of someone who recognized it's not about position, it's about identity. If everything is focused on position, you're gonna miss the point. His job was just to serve the food, that's all. Yet he walked in identity and he knew his real calling. He knew his real purpose and he knew that he walked with the presence of the Holy Spirit. He had the presence or awareness of the proximity. He was being purified, he had love for people and he understood he had power. So it didn't matter what he was doing or where he was at, signs and wonders followed, God moved. To me, that's what a church on fire should look like. And I'm gonna challenge us a little bit real quick, just to challenge a little bit. A lot of times when we talk about like, hey, let's be the hands and feet of Jesus. Let's make sure we're serving people. We talk about serving a church. That's important. It's okay if I say something a little harsh real quick?

That's the baseline. There's no such thing as a sideline Christian. In Ephesians, it says that the job of a pastor evangelist is to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. So serving a church, that's amazing. That should be automatic. When I'm talking about being the hands and feet of Jesus, I'm talking about what happens when you leave these walls. I'm talking about how you act in your workplace, how you act with your circles of people around you, the way that you love people, serve people. That's what we're called to do. Someone who is a non-believer should not be able to look at our lives and say, their life is the same as mine. It shouldn't be possible because of the way that we walk and talk should be so radically different to them. It should be a little offensive because when someone is so different from us, sometimes we kind of, it's a little abrasive. It kind of rubs us the wrong way a little bit at first. Then they see your heart, they see how much you care. And then that's when that door opens for ministry. But there should be like a little bit of friction because if there's no friction in your life, you're just going the same direction as everybody else. So I want to challenge us with that of we are called to be a people on fire. And so the last thing I want to kind of close up with this

is fire spreads. Have you ever seen a forest on fire? It's going everywhere. The Holy Spirit fire was not meant just for you. And so when I was recently at Tommy's graduation, the speech was like, hey, you always have someone giving the address, right? Of like, hey, you know, you work so hard and now you're going to go out and change the world and all these great things, which, you know, I know some of the people who graduated from that school. I don't know. But the whole point is like, hey, you spent all these years, all these heartaches. Now you're at the start line. So if you gained all that knowledge at school, if you gained those abilities, but you actually don't go use it, what was the point? And I went and I looked and recent studies show that of with they checked in with recent graduates a year later, 50% of them were not using their degree. There are what they are called is underemployed. What that means is they're working at jobs that don't utilize their skills and they're not paying what they should be making. How many Christians are underemployed Christians? You have the God of the universe on the inside of you. We have knowledge past the point of our obedience. We have so much on the inside of us yet we do nothing with it.

Somebody looks at our lives and they can't tell the difference. Let's not be underemployed Christians. Let's be a church on fire. Let's be the hands and feet of Jesus. And I really just, the fire was never meant just for us. You don't light a lamp and hide it under a bowl, a city on a hill cannot be hidden. You are the salt of the earth. Fire illuminates. It brings the light into the darkness. You are placed in an area of darkness to be the light. Don't let it snuff out your light. Burn brightly for the Lord. Burn brightly. for your community. There are people in your life that need you to start walking in the fire of the Holy Spirit. There are people that are counting on you to bring the love and the light of the gospel to them. You may be the only gospel they ever read. What does your life say? What is your life speaking to them? Because you were placed in that darkness to be a light. If you hear this message or any message and you're like, you're filled with the knowledge, you're filled with the passion, but nothing changes. If the people around you aren't being loved better, what's the point? Genuinely, what's the point of coming to a church on Sunday if you're not living it during the week? And I'm challenging myself because we've all fallen guilty. We've all fallen short. We've all got into the routine of going to church and then going back and living our lives. If there's not a change, what's the reason of being here? If we're not gathering together to be galvanized and sent out, why are we gathering? So my prayer for tonight, and what I want to end this is, I want to end it with the concept that fire spreads. And I want it to be an outpouring of the Spirit, but also a commissioning, a commissioning of people who are going to say,

I'm going to go spread the fire. I'm going to go spread the fire. I recognize that the fire is not for me, it's for my community. It's for my family. It's for the people who haven't heard about the love of Jesus. And so actually I want to end by reading scripture. And I would ask that, and respect the scripture, I want everybody to stand with me. We're about to go into an altar call. After I read this scripture, and we'll go into a moment of worship, and we're going to have the prayer team up front in a second. But I'm just going to, yeah actually, prayer team come down now. If you're a part of the prayer team, prayer partners, line up at the front. I'm going to read Isaiah 6, 1-9. I'm going to pray, and then we're going to go into an altar call. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne. And the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory. And at the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. Woe to me, I cried, I am ruined. For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips. And my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongues from the altar. When he touched it with my mouth, he said, See, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said, Here am I, send me. He said, Go. And so, Lord, we want to say that our hearts are ready, our hearts are willing, and Lord, we're saying, Here we are, send us. And so, if you're in this place tonight, and you're needing prayer, you're saying, I need the cleansing power. I need Him to purify me, I need His presence.

I want to go, I want to send, I want to be sent, I will go to my schools, I will go to my family. I want you to rush these altars right now, and I want you to get prayer. If you need a touch of the Holy Spirit, or you're wanting to be commissioned to go out, I want you to come down to these altars right now. In Jesus' name, Lord, in Jesus' name, have your way, Lord. Come upon us. We need the fire. Oh, we need the fire. Come and purify. Come and purify your brother. Refine his fire. Come and purify. Come and purify. We are here for you. Oh, we are here for you. Because we know that every time that we ask, you are faithful to show up. You are faithful to pour out your Spirit. You are faithful to pour out your fire over us. So we ask for your fire. So we ask for your fire. Come do it over. Come and do it again. Come and do it again. Because we know that the desire of your heart is to meet your people, is to pour out your spirit over us. Come and send your fire. We want to become like you, Lord. Come and purify us. Come and purify us once more in your likeness, Lord. We want to reflect Jesus. We want to reflect who he is. The Spirit of God fall fresh on us. We need your presence. You're King of God. Your will be done, here as in heaven. Spirit of God. Come on church, let's engage. Let's ask for his presence. Come on, as a body, let's ask for his presence to come.

We need your presence, Lord. Your kingdom come. Hear your people. Hear your people crying for your spirit, for your fire, Lord. Spirit, Spirit of God fall fresh on us. We need your presence. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, here as in heaven. The fire of God come. The fire of God come. The fire of God come and consume us and purify us. Spirit, Spirit of God fall fresh on us. Your presence. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, here as in heaven. Spirit of God fall fresh on us. We need your presence. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, here as in heaven. We're looking for this place. Fill our hearts with your love. Your love surround us. You're the reason we came to encounter your love. Your love surround us. Overflowing this place. Fill our hearts with your love. Your love surround us. You're the reason we came to encounter your love. Your love surround us. Your love surround us. Your love surround us. Only way for you Only way for you It's better for you Only way for you Only way for you Only sure for you It's better for you It's better for you It's better for you It's better for you It's better for you It's better for you It's better for you

From the north, from the south From the east, from the west Release your spirit Release your spirit Come on church, let's engage And let's ask for His presence In the ages The Spirit of God Over our hearts, over our minds, over our families Over our communities, over the city Lord, we thank You God That in like Acts 2 That there was an encounter with Your presence tonight God, there was fire placed inside Your people tonight God, I pray that this fire would spread That as we go, we're being sent, we're being commissioned As missionaries to our lives, to our families, to our jobs So God, I pray that this would not just be another service that was heard God, it would be a message that has been received God, and that Your people would go That when we hear, who will I send That we would be a people that says, here am I Lord, send me God In Your name we pray, amen, amen Give the Lord some praise, give the Lord some praise Well I just wanted to say, thank you so much for joining us in service today Again, I want to leave you with this line that You may be the only gospel that somebody ever reads What does your life say? Have a great Sunday, you are officially dismissed We will run this place, focus on Your face

You won't let us grow weary We're not made to stray, it's a pilgrimage You won't let us lose heart We will run this place, focus on Your face You won't let us grow weary We're not made to stray, it's a pilgrimage You won't let us lose heart We will run this place, focus on Your face You won't let us grow weary We're not made to stray, it's a pilgrimage You won't let us lose heart Consider Him, the offering, the finisher Only to Him, in love to Him, the Son of Man My weariness is swallowed in The kindness of our covenant Consider Him, consider Him, He is our God He ain't havin' fun He ain't havin' fun He ain't havin' fun He ain't havin' fun He ain't havin' fun He ain't havin' fun He ain't havin' fun