Participants: Ivor Myers, Atonte Myers
Series Code: BOF
Program Code: BOF000009
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00:15 Welcome to Battles of Faith.
00:17 We are your hosts Ivor and Atonte Myers. 00:20 Throughout this series we have been talking about the 00:23 entertainment industry. 00:25 Today we want to switch gears just a little bit. 00:28 we entitled this program Flame On. 00:31 We want to encourage our young people and our viewers 00:35 to get on fire for the Lord. 00:38 That is what we are going to be discussing today. 00:41 Atonte some people may be wondering, flame on, 00:44 that sounds familiar. 00:46 When I was little there was a comic book I used to 00:48 love to read. 00:49 There were 4 individuals and there is actually a movie 00:53 out now about these superheroes. 00:57 One of the superheroes name was Johnny. 01:01 Johnny had this ability to become a human torch. 01:08 So he would say, flame on, 01:11 and all of a sudden he would flame on. 01:13 You know I said it before, I think that a lot of what 01:17 Hollywood presents out there, one it is a mockery of God, 01:22 and two it is a counterfeit of what God has in store for 01:25 His people and so we want to talk about the biblical 01:29 concept of flaming on. 01:32 What does it mean to be on fire? 01:34 What is it mean to be burning with a love for 01:38 Jesus Christ in your heart? 01:40 That is right, on many of the other programs we have been 01:43 sharing what we have found in the word of God. 01:45 And what God has taught us personally. 01:47 We have talked about the entertainment industry. 01:49 We have talked about television. 01:50 We have talked about movies and music and video games. 01:53 Different things like that, but today we really want 01:56 to show the other side. 01:57 What it is like to be on fire for God, 02:00 especially as a young person. 02:02 What God has in store for you. 02:04 What God's mission is for you and how you can get 02:06 on fire and stay on fire. 02:08 Now we also want to tie in the battle plan again. 02:12 What we want you to understand as we have an enemy, 02:16 a spiritual enemy, and he is going to try to prevent us 02:19 from doing what? from flaming on 02:22 So we are going to present both sides and we want to 02:25 encourage your viewers out there today to grab your Bibles 02:29 because we are going to be going 02:30 through our Bible and see what it means to flame on. 02:33 Let's go first of all to Revelation Chapter 3. 02:36 Revelation Chapter 3 and we are going to begin with 02:39 verse 14 through to verse 16. 02:43 And God here is speaking to His church. 02:47 He is addressing seven churches and this particular 02:50 church is Laodicea, the last church before Jesus comes 02:56 back to the earth. 02:59 Here's His message to the Laodicea church. 03:01 The name Laodicea means the people of judgment. 03:05 The people of judgment and so notice what it says in 03:08 verse 14, 03:40 It's interesting Atonte that Christ is speaking to his church 03:45 He is telling them, I want you to be either cold or hot. 03:49 Now evidently to be hot means to be on fire for Him. 03:53 to be cold is saying I do not want to serve Him. 03:56 But God is saying I'd rather you be hot or cold, 03:59 but I don't want you to be lukewarm. 04:02 Now it is interesting Atonte that when you take these 04:06 words hot and cold, and you mix them together, 04:08 what do you have? 04:09 You get lukewarm. Ivor: you get lukewarm. 04:12 You might even say that you may even get cool. 04:15 And God is saying listen, I think He is speaking 04:18 especially to the young people, He's saying listen 04:23 you cannot be hot and cool at the same time. 04:27 I believe that one of the things the enemy is trying to 04:32 do in these last days, he has this generation focusing 04:37 being cool versus on being hot. 04:41 That's right instead of being hot they are so focused on 04:45 being cool and that being hot is not even desirable. 04:48 no, it's not cool, it is not cool to be hot. 04:54 We want to explode that and say that God is calling us to 04:59 be hot, being hot doesn't mean being stiff. 05:02 Being hot means having a vital connection with Jesus Christ. 05:06 I can testify to this because I grew, up most of my teen 05:10 years, because my husband did as well, trying to be cool. 05:13 So I was always try to do the things to fit in with 05:16 everybody else, what the cool thing was to do, I did it. 05:21 However, when I found Jesus for myself and started a real 05:27 relationship with Him, being hot or flaming on was much 05:33 more exciting than I ever had being cool. 05:36 The joy, the peace, the happiness, the security in His 05:41 love was all there. 05:43 And it was exciting when I was called to share, when God 05:47 would open up a situation where I would have to even 05:50 witness, or tell somebody about Him, it was the most 05:53 exciting thing in my day. 05:55 It was like there is nothing better, nothing more fun, 05:58 nothing that make me any happier than that. 06:01 What God hates most, and God does not hate a lot. 06:07 What God hates a lot is when His children want to be 06:12 so accepted by the world that they resort to peer pressure, 06:18 they resort to being cool in stead of being hot. 06:23 The Bible talks in Matthew 7:15, Jesus here gives a 06:29 principal, notice what it says. 06:39 Well what is the matter with this picture? 06:41 You have got wolves who are dressed up as sheep, 06:46 that is what the Bible says. 06:47 God hates that because it is deceptive. 06:50 The wolf is hiding out in sheep's clothing. 06:52 And God says stay away from that. 06:54 Have you ever stopped to think about the concept of 07:00 sheep in wolves clothing? 07:01 A sheep, in order for us to get closer to the world, 07:07 in order for us to be accepted of the world we are going 07:11 to start talking like the Wolf, and acting like the Wolf, 07:16 and dressing like the Wolf, so that we can be accepted 07:21 but inside I am really a sheep, but they just don't know it. 07:24 I think that principle is something that God wants us to 07:28 stay away from because it is the principle of deception. 07:31 Same thing wolves in sheep clothing, same principle. 07:34 Sheep in wolves clothing, He says let the wolves be wolves 07:37 and the sheep be sheep. 07:40 Let there be a clear distinction between those who are hot 07:44 and those who are cool. 07:46 God is calling for that distinction and says in Me, 07:50 I can teach you how to flame on. 07:54 That's right, Jesus can teach us how to flame on. 07:59 Wouldn't it be so exciting to have a youth group where the 08:04 base was the word, and studying the word and being filled 08:09 more and more with the Spirit. 08:11 Because so many times we form youth groups to entertain, 08:15 or let's go play a game, or let's go do something 08:18 entertaining, and there is nothing wrong with that. 08:21 We should have some fun with our young people, 08:24 there is nothing wrong with having fun. 08:25 Wholesome good fun, however the word, you still have to 08:31 be deep in the word, it is important. 08:33 This generation is the next generation. 08:35 And Jesus is coming soon. 08:37 We were talking about biblical illiteracy in the 08:40 last program and I have seen a lot as I have traveled 08:43 and spoken with different youth groups and 08:46 young people all over. 08:48 Youth groups, are large part of the youth ministry, 08:53 today is about entertaining. 08:56 Then we give a little nugget about the word of God, 08:59 and we say we've done our work. 09:01 But I believe that a biblical youth group should be a 09:05 group that is based upon the word of God. 09:07 A biblical youth group is a youth group that says we are 09:11 going to fulfill the mandate that Jesus Christ has given 09:14 us to go out and evangelize the world. 09:19 To win the world, to tell them about the gospel of 09:22 Jesus Christ, to turn their eyes upon Jesus, and to turn their 09:26 eyes to the word of God. 09:28 I think one of the biggest problems is that many of our 09:31 young people, because of the lack of the knowledge of 09:35 the Word of God. 09:36 So many things are going on out there where. 09:38 We are being entertained and that we don't have a 09:40 knowledge of the Word of God so I'm now fearful to go 09:43 out and share because I do not know what I'm sharing. 09:47 So when God makes this call and He says I want you to be 09:51 hot in the church, on fire, 09:54 or cold out but don't be cool. 09:57 I believe what Satan has done is that he is made us afraid 10:02 to want to push this for the young people because of the 10:08 history in the past of the church. 10:10 I'm not talking about any one particular church, 10:13 I'm talking about the Christian church overall. 10:17 These things were pushed to study the word, pray, 10:20 all these different things, but young people weren't 10:23 seeing some of the adults and other older members of 10:26 the church truly having a real supernatural personal 10:30 connection with God. 10:31 Ivor: they didn't see the fire. 10:35 They didn't see the fire, so they do not want to be 10:38 hypocrites so they are just saying come on we'll do 10:40 God thing and you should pray and read your Bible a 10:43 little bit but let's go on have fun and make sure we 10:45 have a good time together and we are friends. 10:48 It is important for youth leaders and pastors and 10:50 other people in the church to connect with young people 10:53 on that level, but it is not more important than 10:56 studying the word. 10:57 We have to have a balance. 10:59 That's right, well let's talk about how to flame on. 11:01 This is where God wants us to be at. 11:04 I have a text to your in Matthew 3:11. 11:08 John the Baptist here is speaking and he says something 11:11 very powerful and very eye-opening. 11:14 In verse 11. 11:33 That is a powerful text Atonte, because you can imagine 11:37 baptism, baptism if you have seen a baptism before, 11:40 what happens is the minister stands before you and puts 11:43 a white cloth over your nose and mouth which symbolizes 11:47 you have stopped breathing. 11:49 Atonte: symbolizes death. 11:50 death and he takes you down into the water 11:52 and it is baptism by submersion. 11:55 So you are fully underwater, which represents burial. 12:00 Then he brings you back up and he removes that cloth. 12:05 You take your first breath, so to speak. 12:07 What I want to focus in on is the fact that you come up 12:11 wet, you come up doused in water as it were. 12:14 Now we need to understand that because when the Bible 12:18 talks about being baptized with fire, just imagine 12:22 in your mind, the concept of God taking you down in a pool 12:26 of fire and bringing you back up, and what are you on? 12:31 Atonte: you're on fire. 12:33 You're on fire, you are submersed in fire and God says 12:36 this is what it means to be baptized in fire. 12:38 It means you are submersed in the presence of God. 12:40 Hebrews 12:29 the Bible says, 12:44 "our God is a consuming fire. " 12:47 So be baptized in fire, we baptized in the Spirit of God 12:52 means to go down and submersed yourself into God, 12:56 into the Spirit of God, into the Word of God and come up. 13:00 When you come up you are on fire, you have flamed on. 13:04 Not by any fire of your own, 13:05 but by the fire of God Himself. 13:07 I think that once we are baptized by the water we 13:11 kind of miss this point sometimes because it says, 13:14 "and with fire. " 13:16 It is very important that we get baptized by the water 13:19 and we feel like we are just the same regular old people. 13:22 that has publicly said we are going to follow Jesus. 13:26 But the second part about being baptized with fire, 13:29 or the Spirit of God, is so very vitally important. 13:33 That is right and what that fire does, fire consumes. 13:38 What that fire does is it consumes the carnality that 13:42 is in our hearts, it consumes all those desires that 13:46 we once had out the world. 13:48 I no longer want to be cool, I want to be hot. 13:51 That is what this fire does, it teaches us how to love 13:54 Jesus, it teaches us how to be on fire, how to burn, and 13:58 how to have a burning desire in our hearts to serve Jesus. 14:02 Really a lot of times this is what is missing. 14:04 So we go out into the world and try to find other things 14:08 that will make it appear that we may be on fire, 14:12 when we really are being cool. 14:15 God says I want you to come to Me and submerse yourself 14:18 in Me, He didn't say I want you to submerse yourself in 14:22 music, He said I want you to submerse yourself in Me. 14:26 In My word, and it is through His word that He sends forth 14:31 that this reaction takes place in us and we could walk 14:35 around like fireballs. 14:36 You're not literally on fire, but you are walking 14:38 around flamed on. 14:40 And I know there is a young person watching right now who 14:44 is thinking can that happen for me overnight? 14:47 Can it really happen? 14:48 Well I know for myself I just got to the point, 14:51 and this is what I would recommend to anybody. 14:55 I just got to the point where I desired that, I desired 14:57 the fire but didn't know how to get it. 14:59 So I prayed a simple prayer to God and I remember being 15:04 in the Oakwood College sanctuary. 15:06 It was a prayer meeting on Wednesday night and I kneeled 15:09 down and whispered a prayer, Lord by any means necessary, 15:12 I had been very heavy into Malcolm X., 15:15 by any means necessary please save me. 15:18 Nothing that I did within myself to start it, but I believe 15:22 that the Holy Spirit really started working on my heart. 15:26 My thoughts and my feelings started to change. 15:29 The things I wanted to do. 15:30 The desires that I wanted to do. 15:32 The music I started to listen to, it wasn't all overnight 15:35 but it was a step and a process. 15:38 No matter where was in the process as long as I obeyed 15:41 God and followed Him, I was on fire. 15:43 Even though I still have much more growing to do, 15:45 I was still on fire for where I was. 15:47 That's right, you know when you think about that invisible 15:51 reality of God, that invisible realm. 15:55 That great controversy they cannot be seen with the 15:59 natural eyes, when God opened up my eyes to see this 16:03 conflict that is what caused me to flame on. 16:06 When I saw there were invisible realities that there was this 16:10 great controversy in which the souls of human kind, 16:13 to me this was greater than any movie I had ever seen. 16:17 And it was real. 16:18 I thought Lord you want me to have a part in 16:20 this great controversy? 16:22 It was like the greatest honor and just from that concept 16:26 alone, the Lord said, son, flame on. 16:29 Ever since I have come into being a Christian, it has been 16:33 fire, and I'm not boasting about myself. 16:36 I'm not saying look at me I'm on fire, 16:38 I'm not saying that. 16:39 What I am saying is that the desire of God has burned 16:43 away my desire for anything in the world. 16:45 That is where God is calling us too. 16:48 When God does this for you, when you say Lord I want to 16:52 flame on, He gives that to you. 16:54 It's a gift and He will not, not answer that prayer. 16:57 God desires this more than anything. 16:59 He gave His Son for this reason and He wants you to be 17:02 on fire, He wants to get to know you better. 17:03 He will do this and you will see that the things of the 17:07 world will become darker. 17:09 You won't desire them, and you can't change that within 17:13 yourself, God has to do it. 17:15 I used to absolutely love soap operas and other things 17:18 on television, movies and different kinds of music. 17:22 Now when I am in that presence and I have to be forced 17:25 to be in the presence of a television program that I 17:28 don't feel comfortable with, it makes me absolutely 17:31 miserable inside, and I couldn't do that for myself. 17:34 Only God could do that. 17:36 What you know if God wants us to flame on, we know that 17:39 the enemy wants us to what? Cool down! 17:42 Cool down, cool off, cool off. 17:45 I think about the text of Revelation 12:15. 17:48 I'm going to read that here. 17:57 Now we know in the Bible water according to Revelation: 19 18:03 rather Revelation 17:15 that waters represent peoples, 18:08 Nations, multitudes, and tongues. 18:10 So the Bible says here that Satan cast out of his mouth 18:13 people, Nations, multitudes, and tongues. 18:17 And everyone goes with that, the culture, the flow of 18:20 worldliness after the woman to cause her, the woman 18:23 represents the church, to cause her to be carried away. 18:26 One of the ways I see this text Atonte, is that the devil 18:29 in order to cool down the church he has cast out 18:32 this flood of worldliness. 18:34 God is saying flame on and be baptized in fire. 18:38 Satan is casting out this flood of worldliness 18:42 into the church. 18:43 It is up to us to say who am I going to go with? 18:46 Am I going to go with the flow that Satan is pushing, 18:50 or am I going to be baptized in the Spirit of God and 18:54 stand against that flood. 18:55 The Bible says in Isaiah 59:19 "when the enemy shall" 19:00 "come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift" 19:04 "up a standard against him. " 19:06 Part of that standard is when He says to flame on. 19:08 I'm going to allow you to stand strong against that flood, 19:11 and that flood will not move you away. 19:14 You will be standing firm on the rock of God's word. 19:17 You know as we are speaking about this I am actually 19:19 envisioning a young person in their living room or 19:22 in their bedroom, where ever they may be watching 19:24 this program, and getting excited and wanting to do this. 19:29 Sharing it with others. 19:30 Can you imagine an army of youth? 19:34 I call it an army because the name of this program 19:37 is Battles of Faith. 19:39 It is a war because Satan is not going to give up on 19:43 you easily, he is not just going to say okay just go on 19:46 and be on fire, go be with the Lord. 19:50 He is not going to give up on you easily, but like Ivor 19:53 just said, that God will lift up a standard and you can 19:57 trust Lord has more power and strength. 19:59 You just have to hang on and He will, God will allow 20:03 Satan to come in and test you. 20:05 You will go through some testing at times, but it is just 20:09 to purify you and draw you closer to God. 20:11 Not to give up. 20:12 One of the greatest lessons I learned from a friend when I 20:15 came into this church was this. 20:16 You take a group, you take a couple sticks and put them 20:21 together and light them on fire, 20:22 they are all going to burn. 20:24 If you take those sticks out of that bundle and set it to 20:26 the side, that stick is going to go out, 20:28 the flames are going to die out. 20:29 God calls us to be around like-minded people. 20:35 He says I don't want you to get away from the burning 20:38 brands, I want you to be around like-minded people. 20:41 I think about all the friends I have met before 20:44 coming to this church. 20:46 My own brother Sean, he is a minister now, he and I were 20:48 in a group together and he is and encouragement to me. 20:52 A good friend of mine Marquis Johns, he just escape the 20:55 black hole two years ago and he is now preaching 20:57 the word of God. 20:58 I think about all these different people who have come 21:01 out and we encourage one another, strengthen one another. 21:05 He is on fire and they are on fire and I want to be around 21:08 people who are on fire because it helps me to be on fire. 21:11 There might be some of the other thinking, well, it's 21:14 easier for you, you grew up in the world and you just came 21:18 into the church and now you're on fire, but his story is 21:21 totally different from mine. 21:22 I might be like you, were you were raised as a Christian, 21:25 and not yet made that decision to really follow God. 21:31 You can do to, you don't have to go to the world and come 21:35 back, I would rather you not have my story, or his story. 21:40 But just to start being on fire now, without having to 21:44 have those experiences that the world has offered 21:47 because it does leave scars. 21:48 Let me share why it is so important Atonte to be on fire 21:53 in light of the great controversy and in light of 21:56 the final reward at the end of time. 21:58 Why does God, the Bible says in Hebrews 12:29 that God 22:02 is a consuming fire? 22:04 The question is why is God a consuming fire? 22:07 Why does God manifests Himself as fire. 22:10 Is it to terrify and scare us, I would say not. 22:13 Let's look at the text in the Song of Solomon, and 22:16 Atonte what is the Song of Solomon about? 22:20 Well it is a love story. 22:22 Ivor: that's right a love story between Solomon and the 22:29 Shulamite woman and in this book, 22:31 this is a beautiful book. 22:33 In this book there is this relationship being described 22:36 between these two lovers. 22:39 You will find here something powerful in Song of Solomon 8:6, 22:45 Speaking about fire. 23:04 Now notice verse 7. 23:06 "Many waters cannot quench love. " 23:09 Why does God manifests Himself as fire? 23:12 Because God is love. 23:14 Have you ever said to yourself, I have a burning desire 23:16 in my heart for this person, for that person. 23:20 You may remember courting, or if you are married you 23:26 should have a burning. 23:27 You mean the way you feel about me right now? 23:28 Ivor: that's right, you should have a burning desire 23:31 in your heart, we call that fire, I'm on fire for my wife. 23:34 So God manifests Himself as fire not to terrify us, 23:39 but to say listen I am love and this is the best way I can 23:43 reveal My love to you. 23:45 It's interesting Atonte, that after mankind sinned, 23:50 God all of a sudden became a fearful being. 23:55 We ran from Him in the garden. 23:56 Adam and Eve ran from Him, whereas before they came 23:58 running to Him you see. 23:59 It is interesting that once sin entered, we began to view 24:03 God and His fire as something to be afraid of. 24:07 God says listen, the reason why I want you to be baptized, 24:10 every time I think about this it blows my mind. 24:15 We need to realize that heaven is the city of fire. 24:20 You think about it Atonte, God's throne is a throne of fire. 24:24 Revelation 15:2 talks about a sea of glass mingled with 24:28 fire and the righteous are standing on that sea of glass. 24:32 The Angels, the Bible says, 24:35 are ministering spirits of fire. 24:38 God's throne that I mentioned is fire and when you think 24:41 about that, when we get to heaven, the Bible says the 24:45 righteousness stand on the sea of glass mingled with fire. 24:48 How is that so? 24:49 It is amazing when you think about the story of Moses 24:54 and the burning bush. 24:55 When Moses encountered that burning bush he asked 24:58 the question, how is it that this Bush is burning, 25:00 but it is not being consumed? 25:04 In that bush God had illustrated the plan of salvation. 25:08 What He was saying, Moses heaven is the city of fire and 25:12 in order for you to dwell with Me and not be consumed, 25:17 you have to be baptized, you have got to flame on so that 25:21 when you enter into the city of heaven, 25:23 you will be on fire. 25:24 The Bible actually says in the book of Isaiah 33. 25:28 Let me find that real quickly Isaiah 33, a powerful text 25:32 here, Isaiah 33:14. 25:50 Now the question here is being asked, who among us are 25:52 going to be able to live in everlasting fire? 25:56 To live among everlasting burnings. 25:58 We have to be on fire to be able to coexist in the fire. 26:01 That's right, now the devil would say that it is the 26:04 wicked that burn for ever, but notice what the Bible says. 26:07 Isaiah 33:15. 26:23 Atonte the Bible says it is the righteous that will 26:27 get to dwell with the everlasting burnings, 26:29 which is Jesus Christ. 26:31 The righteous that get to stand on a sea of glass and not be 26:34 consumed, the wicked, as the city of God is coming down 26:37 out of heaven and they see the righteous standing in the 26:41 city and they are going why is it that the fire is going 26:44 and they are not consumed? 26:46 Is because while they were here on earth they learned 26:50 what it meant to flame on. 26:52 And God wants us to experience that now. 26:55 That is right He wants us to experience that now. 26:57 You know Atonte, when the flood came and destroyed all the 27:01 creatures on your there was one creature that was not 27:03 destroyed that was outside the ark. 27:05 When you read Genesis you will see that the sea creatures 27:08 were not destroyed, why, because they were already water 27:11 creatures, God has sent water down and they were 27:14 already water creatures. 27:15 When God destroys the earth by fire, there will be those 27:17 who will not be affected, why? 27:19 Because they learned what it meant to flame on. 27:24 They were fire creatures. 27:26 They were baptized in the fire of God, the Spirit of God, 27:30 so the fire has no effect over the righteous, 27:34 but it will destroy the wicked. 27:36 We are saying flame on now before it is too late. 27:40 God is calling us to be on fire. 27:42 That's right, it's God's desire that we be on fire. 27:46 I know as young people many times we think, well it's 27:49 my parents, it's my grand parents, or is the pastor 27:53 or the other people at the church who should 27:55 be on fire and not me. 27:57 But God is calling you especially. 27:59 Jesus is coming soon and time is running out and He wants 28:04 to use young people, He has a calling for you. 28:08 We are out of time join us next time. 28:10 God bless! |
Revised 2014-12-17