In the wilderness, God was with Israel everyday in the form of the pillar of cloud and fire. When Moses went up on the mountain for 40 days, the fire of God rested on the mountain. They could see the fire, but they said that God had abandoned them and that Moses wasn’t coming back.

We think that they were so dumb, but we are just as bad, if not worse. We have the fire of the Holy Spirit living in us, but we still doubt and challenge and question God. How can we no believe that God is in us? We believe that we have a heart and lungs and kidneys. If we didn’t we would die. The Holy Spirit is the same way. Without the Holy Spirit living in us, we will die spiritually.

When Israel was in the wilderness, they burned fire on the altar all the time. When they traveled, the fire traveled with them.

Leviticus 6:8-13
8 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 9 “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering shall be on the hearth upon the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. 10 And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen trousers he shall put on his body, and take up the ashes of the burnt offering which the fire has consumed on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. 11 Then he shall take off his garments, put on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. 12 And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not be put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order on it; and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. 13 A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out.

This day, the altar of God is in our hearts. The fire in our hearts should never go out. The fire in our heart should always burn.

The fire in the Temple didn’t die until they were taken into captivity by Babylon. Throughout the years, they kept the fire burning and gave offerings morning and evening.

What offerings did they give?
#1 Offering of repentance
#2 Offering of thanksgiving

When you refuse to repent for your sin, the fire in your heart will slowly die. Through repentance the fire in your heart will continually burn. When you stop giving thanks to God, the fire in your heart will slowly die. When you give thanks to God, even in times of trial and struggle, the fire in your heart will continually burn. We don’t give enough thanks to God. We need to give thanks to God every day, every moment. Repentance and thanksgiving go together.

When you lose fire, you lose vision for your life and for your ministry. If you want to see someone change, they need repentance and fire. If you want to change, bring repentance to your heart.

Leviticus 2:12-13 talks about salt covenant. What is the salt covenant? How do we offer salt offering now? Our tears. When you repent, give God your tears.

When they brought wood for the fire, they had to make sure that it was good looking, perfect so that they could offer it to God. That wood for the fire was symbolic of the cross of Christ. (Luke 23:26-31)

Luke 12:49
49 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

Jesus came to send fire. Fire is worship.

How do we receive fire? There are many ways to receive fire. You can receive fire through prayer, fasting, or praise and worship. One of the best ways to receive fire is to receive the message from the Lord. Allow your conscience to be convicted of sin. Allow your emotions to bring repentance to your heart.

Your conscience and your emotions work together to bring fire to your heart.

Emotions can be bad or good, depending on how you allow them to affect you. If you allow your emotions to be used to manipulate others, that is bad. But if you allow your emotions to bring you a spirit of repentance, that is good.

Cornelius’ family received the fire of the Holy Spirit when they listened to Peter preach. (Acts 10:44-48) Peter didn’t lay hands on them or even pray for them. They received the fire of God just by hearing the Word of God.

In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came as fire. Take the message of God very seriously. Take the Word of God seriously.

Repentance is very important for bringing fire. When we repent, our emotions cry out to God. Change will take place in our hearts.

Isaiah 58:1
1 “Cry aloud, spare not;
Lift up your voice like a trumpet;
Tell My people their transgression,
And the house of Jacob their sins.

God wants His people, His church, to preach a message of repentance. God wants to use the message of repentance to talk to people’s consciences. If you don’t repent, you will not change. Repentance brings salvation. Repentance brings tears and fire.

If you want to change but are having a hard time changing, you must truly repent. If you struggle to change, you haven’t brought true repentance yet.

Repentance brings change. Repentance brings revival.

Fire is very important to our lives. Everything runs by fire – cars, stoves, electricity, heating systems, even cooling systems. The fire of the Holy Spirit is very important for our spiritual lives.

Matthew 3:11-12
¹¹ I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

This is what holy fire does for us. Burns up evil. Burns up chaff. Cleans out our hearts. Gives us desire to know God more. The Holy Spirit comes as fire but you must allow that fire to burn.

God bless you,
Pastor Sun East