Transcription
Can I get us to say this confession? Everybody watching online, I want us to put this in the room and all caps. Can I get us all to say this?
"Father, Father, give me the faith, give me the faith and the courage, and the courage to trust You, to trust You even when it burns." Even when it burns. We want that fire. We want that fire.
One more time: "Father, Father, give me the faith, give me the faith and the courage to trust You, trust You even when it burns."
Now tap your chest. We want that fire. We want one more time. We want that fire. I don't want just a flicker. We want that fire. I want that fire. I want that fire. I want that fire in my service. I want that fire in my home. I want that fire in my preaching. I want that fire in my heart. I want that fire in my commitment. I want that fire. I don't want a spark anymore. We want that fire.
"To treat this, I must use fire." That is an unknown quote from a medic that's trying to treat a soldier that's hemorrhaging in the middle of a battlefield from his wounds. He tried to stop the bleeding, but stitching wouldn't work, patching wouldn't work. And he has his hand on the soldier and he yells out across the field, "To treat this, I need fire!"
I was reading an article a few days ago entitled "The the history of cautery device." The history of the cautery device. I found this reading rather interesting. It said in ancient times, fire was used to treat various diseases. Studies even report that this, this, this surgical cautery implementation worked different due to different cultures and ancient times. What they would do is they would put something hot, they would put a tool in something hot or stick it in fire and then apply it to the person who is wounded. And the three men that are most accredited to the surgical implementation, first comes by one particular brother, Albis, and also Tho, and William T. Bie. These are actual people. Don't you love when your pastor studies? These are true individuals who are accredited for being the ones who implemented surgical cauterization.
So what does cautery mean? It is when a patient, a soldier, first responder, anybody has to get surgery or watch this, they're so wounded to such a degree where the surgeons can't stop the bleeding. And the only way they could fix it is they would stick a tool in fire and then put the hot tool on the wound so that the fire and the burn would close the flesh. Now, this is a practice we still use today, but it's electrocauterization. Thank God we don't have to be burned by rocks and sticks. But the, the same process is still a practice today where the only way I could treat this is I must use fire. So I have to burn you to heal you.
They missed it. Don. They missed it. There's something that happened that is bleeding so severely. Stitches won't work. Yeah. Band-Aids won't work. Patching won't work. But fire will. And the only way to stop this is I have to burn you to heal you.
And as I was engaged in sermon prep this week, the Holy Spirit dropped this in my heart: "That's it, son. That's what I need. I need a spiritual cauterization on the body." Because my body, my wife, the body of Christ, in a lot of areas, she's hemorrhaging. False preaching over there, false teaching over here. People leaving the church, calling it church hurt. When is cult hurt? People who are more willing to forgive a sinner than they are to forgive a Christian. I, I need to help this. But you know what, son? The only way I could treat my body to cure this, I must use fire. My worshipers, I got to burn them. I need my worshipers to be on fire. I need my deacons to be on fire. I need my evangelists to be on fire. I need my praisers to be on fire. I need my intercessors to be on fire. I need my pastors to be on fire. I need my shepherds to be on fire. To cure this issue, I must use fire. That's the only way I could treat it. That's the only way I could treat it.
"What happened to you, sir?" "I'm sorry that it happened, but God is saying the only way that I could cure you and treat you is I must use fire." Will you trust me when your healing burns you? I must use fire.
I saw what happened in the relationship, daughter. I saw that you had your heart broken by a hell-sent man. So to heal you, I must use fire. In fact, let me put my foot on the gas a little more. You wouldn't have entertained him anyway. Both genders. You wouldn't have entertained her anyway if you were on fire before they came. If your prayer life... Okay, okay, it's getting real in here. If your prayer life was on fire before they came, the heat of our intimacy would have pushed them off. Because watch this, not only does fire omit heat, it also omits light. Y'all missed it. Whatever it takes to get us to get it. Okay. Whatever it takes.
Maybe the reason you keep falling in traps is because the lamp of your Bible reading isn't lit. The only time you use the Bible is to burn people. Better talk, Lord. But if you use the lamp of your Bible reading, if you stayed in devotion, it would show you that's not my will. It will reveal that's a serpent. Watch out. It will reveal that's false doctrine. Watch out. If you were to stay in the word, this is why the psalmist says in Psalms 19:105, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." There's certain things you can't see because your Bible is dusty. Oh, the only time you light your lamp is when I say, "Turn to Genesis 40." The only time you light your lamp is when you're trying to recover from a breakup. The only time you light your lamp is when you want God to give you something. But if you live with your lamp as you're walking through life, you can see, "Okay, this, this, this doesn't work. That's not godly."
I, I want y'all to remember this. Whatever it takes. I told y'all I was a student of Pastor. I'm going to do whatever it takes to get y'all to get it. There's an acronym I want you to see for a lamp. What is a lamp? It lights all mysterious paths. That's so good, isn't it? The word of God. When we stay in it, and remember Jesus says the word became flesh. So when we have that intimacy and when we stay in the Bible, it lights all mysterious paths.
I want to show you how it works. So people like, "Okay, what does that look like?" Okay. Um, I don't know if I should use my gift to write this book. What if they don't read it? What if it stays on the shelf? Okay, let's look at our lamp and let's shine some light to it. Proverbs 18:16 says, "A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men." It lit that mysterious path that you were unsure of. It gave you some light to it. Or 1 Peter 4:10, it says, "As each has received a gift, use it." I mean, use it to flex? No, to serve. Use it to serve one another as God's stewards of God's very grace. In other words, when you don't use it, you're saying, "God, when you gave me this gift, you made a bad investment in me." Come on. You use the lamp. Somebody say lamp. Lamp.
"I don't know if I should go into business with my friend. He's got some angry shoes." Maybe I could work that out. Let's go to the lamp. Okay. Um, Proverbs chapter 22 verse 24. It says, Proverbs chapter 22 verse 24, it says, "Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person. Do not associate with one easily angered." Why? "Or you may learn their ways and get ensnared yourself." See, right there. I don't know what to do. It just told you what to do. Pastor, I need a "me." No, you need to read the Bible. Proverbs 22 just told you. I'm just trying to get us to understand this. I just have a whole bunch of friends. Please understand this. You don't need a certain number of friends. You just need a number of friends you're certain of. Did y'all catch that? All right.
"I don't know if I should end this relationship. She keeps offering me the cheeks." I'm not sorry. My generation requires real. I deliberately said "she" because preachers always preach "it's him." Okay. There's some sisters. There's some men who are trying to be godly. Brothers, watch how quiet ladies get. There's some men who are striving to be godly, but she keeps offering up. This happened to me before. I was with my wife. I'm trying to be godly. She wasn't. But it was something. Brothers, be careful if you're married. But it was something hot about being wanted like that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Every man wants to be desired, right? Okay.
"Should I end a relationship? She keeps offering me the cheeks and I'm trying to be godly." Let's get to the lamp on it. Okay. We're going to lamp this in The Message Bible. Okay. Proverbs chapter 6 verse 23 says, "For sound advice is a beacon, good teaching is a light, moral discipline is a life path. They'll protect you from promiscuous women, from the seductive talk of some tempters. Don't lustfully fantasize eyes over her beauty, nor be taken in by her bedroom eyes. You can buy an hour with a prostitute for a loaf of bread, but a promiscuous woman may well eat you alive." Can you build a fire in your lap and not burn your pants? Can you walk barefoot on hot coals and not get blisters? It's the Bible. It gave light to that mysterious path.
"To treat this, I must use fire." This is why I can't wait till next Sunday when we speak around this thought: secondhand smoke. Because a lot of our faith is being suffocated by our friends. See, you constantly keep bringing the smoke. God said, "I want you to bring the fire." Maybe it's your circle. Hear me, please. Hear me. When a heart is not lit on fire, and when our spirit doesn't burn for the things of God, we will put people in the wrong room in our heart. So you can't identify these four categories. You can't identify kingdom friends from distractions, from assignments, from bait. Because when your heart is not on fire, and your spirit is not on fire, you will place wrong people in the wrong rooms of your heart. So you're like, "Man, you know what? This, this is my kingdom friend. This is my kingdom friend." If you are on fire, no, that's not a kingdom friend. You put them in the wrong category. What that is, is a distraction. Put it in the right category. Place it right. That's a distraction.
Well, how do I know it's a distraction? Because ever since they arrived, your focus has departed. Your, your focus is now in a haze. Hear me. It's going to be hard for you to take destiny paths when distractions are giving you directions. Because when your heart is not on fire, I will not be able to place people in the right rooms in my heart. You're like, "Okay, well, you know, this one, this one, I'm going to label this. Yeah, this is a distraction." No, that's not a distraction. That's an assignment. You put that in the wrong room. So let's put this right. Put the assignment in the right category. I'm trying to show you how to stop getting hurt. That's an assignment. You build with assignments. When an assignment comes in your life, you're not looking to build a bond. You're looking where to place bricks. On, sir. We're trying to build something. That's it. All this is, is an assignment. They have come in my life and they are assigned to help me finish something. And assignments are seasonal. Because once it's complete, it's over.
Let me come for your edges a little more. You don't vent to assignments. You don't share confidential information to assignments. Oh, Lord. You don't sleep with assignments. That's how assignments become your assassin. It's not that's not distraction. It's an assignment. And many people, since you don't know your assignment, you keep on confusing assignment with alignment. Because they're in my life, this must be God's will. No, it's just an assignment.
All right. Well, I, I got this one, Pastor. I got this one. This one right here. Did this, this my kingdom friend. Ain't no my kingdom friend. I, I think we're called to get married. Okay. No, this isn't a kingdom friend. This is bait. This is bait. This is a lure of the enemy to get you further and further away from your fire. I want to get you. See, God summons kingdom friends. Hell sets up bait. That's not ba, it's bait. It's designed to get you hooked on something. This is so good, y'all. If I can get you to identify bait from distractions, from assignments, from kingdom friends, then you, you will be able to make sure that you can identify with ease. Firefighters? Maybe everybody isn't a firefighter. It's that you keep putting everybody in the wrong category. See, because we always want to say, "The devil, the devil used them." Or there was not relational intelligence enough to identify where to properly place people. It's easier to love people when you know their category. Is this making sense?
Put my foot on the gas a little more. Romance intoxicates discernment. The enemy will always send bait when your desire is high but your discernment is low. "They just left me. They did me so wrong. I can't stand that they did me wrong." That's a wrong thing. No, it's a discernment thing. Jesus identified Judas. The pain doesn't hit as hard when you're able to identify, "This is their assignment. They helped me in the parking lot. That's it. This is their assignment. I work with them. That's it. They're going to experience the love of Christ, but I properly have placed them."