Our reading of the word comes from Acts 2, verses 1 through 4 and that can be found on page 92 in the New Testament parts of your Bibles.
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place and suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind and it filled the whole house while they were sitting and there appeared to them tongues as a fire distress themselves and they rested on each one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance the Word of the Lord.
Lord, as we consider your word, let us hear what you would have us hear. Let us know what you would have us know and let us do what you would have us do for your sake and in Jesus name, Amen.
Harvey thought it would be a good idea to go to a Pentecostal church on Pentecost. Now, if any of you know what a Pentecostal church is, they get wild. He figured that way he would get the full experience of how it might have felt on the first Pentecost.
As he was sitting in the pew, the pastor approached him. He said, you will walk today. Harvey looked at him confused and said, but I’m not crippled. The pastor leaned even closer and insisted, you will walk today. Harvey was just simply nodded politely, somewhat confused. He experienced the rest of the service still scratching his head.
But when he got up and went out into the parking lot, he saw that someone had stolen his truck. So he will walk today. Poor Harvey.
Our message was chasing fire. We all know and have heard it from the time we’ve been little the story of Pentecost and how the Holy Spirit descended on the Disciples making it possible to spread the gospel in all different languages. Do you think God did this on purpose? Not only to spread the word, but to also give the disciples confidence in Jesus absence.
Remember we talked about that last week when Jesus went up for ascension. The disciples were going, oh, our mentor, our leader, he’s leaving. So possibly God did this to give them the confidence that they needed to continue on.
So what does the fire mean for us today? Are we just chasing fire but not really accomplishing anything? We can chase fire all we want, but if we neglect the oil, fire won’t last.
Now, have any of you ever noticed how sometimes the candles will go out during service? And why do you think that is? Because somebody didn’t fill up the candles with oil, right? We all want fire in our lives, right? As Christians, we want powerful worship. We want goosebumps, we want moments that move us. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Jesus told a story where everybody had a lamp, but not everybody had enough oil to keep their lamps burning. In Matthew 25, verses 1:4, it says, Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the prudent took an oil in flasks along with their lamps.
Jesus tells this story about 10 virgins waiting for a bridegroom. All 10 of them had lamps that were burning while they were waiting. And they waited a long time. As we know the story goes, five of them were foolish and didn’t bring any extra oil. They didn’t plan ahead. The other five brought extra oil. They were prepared to wait. They were ready with oil, so their lamps were burning.
But then the foolish all of a sudden realized their lamps were going out because they didn’t bring any extra oil. So those five had to leave just to get more oil, and they missed the bridegroom while they were gone. What made the difference was not those who had a lamp, but those who had oil to sustain it.
You know, we may experience the this kind of thing in our own lives. We’re trying to figure out how to walk with God. And so many times we are chasing the fire, but we overlook the oil.
Bottom line is that it’s not enough to look ready. You have to be ready. You can’t hang around successful people who have the fire or even other Christians who have the fire in them. You can hang around. Sorry, not can. You can hang around Successful people who have the fire, or even other Christians who have the fire in them.
But that doesn’t do you any good unless you possess the oil to sustain the fire. What you build with God in private is what sustains you in public. We can’t live off of someone else’s fate or someone else’s success. It’s great to be around them, but we can’t live off it. Because oil can’t be borrowed. You cannot borrow somebody’s faith. You can’t borrow their success. You have to make your own.
We tend to chase things that produce spirits, like Bible camps or conferences or worship nights or concerts or various other events. And there’s nothing wrong with those things at all. They build us up, right? But fire is only sustained by oil, not moments or events.
So the good news is there’s enough oil for all of us. The problem is the oil is what nobody sees, but it’s what keeps everything burning.
You might be thinking, so what is the oil and how do I get it?
Not just hearing it on Sunday in church. Time spent reading and falling in love with it. God’s word also demands a response from us. It’s not just something we read, it’s a lie. The Bible is alive. We have to respond to something that’s living, right? You can’t. If you have your dog there, if you don’t feed it and you don’t pet it, what’s going to happen? It’s living, but it’s not going to live your plants if you don’t water them and if you don’t feed them, they’re not going to live. So we have to respond to something that’s living. And the Bible is something that’s living. Reading it as the first is the first part and responding in obedience is the second. When somebody sees you opening your Bible, when somebody. When. I’m sorry, when nobody sees you opening your Bible but you. Oil is being stored. Oil that produces and sustains fire.
The second thing we can do to get oil in our lives is private prayer. Not fancy worded prayers, just real prayers. Honest, messy, consistent connection with God. Prayer is not when you’re talking, but it’s also usually you listening for God’s voice as well. Oil is built in conversations that nobody is around to apply.
Obedience in small things for you to produce oil. You know, we always hear the saying, don’t sweat the small things. This is not the time. It’s the little yes moments. Like if we agreed to volunteer for something, say it’s our church, then we should follow through with our commitment. It is the little acts of obedience, the small things. And one thing is for sure, if we are in the Word, we all know how to obey it. So much of the problem we have in church today is that we spend more time being what we heard saying someone else say about the word of God rather than finding out for ourselves our thing for sure. Oil. I’m sorry. One thing for sure, oil grows every time we obey God’s word, even if it feels small and insignificant.
Another way to get oil, Repentance. That’s a tough one for all of us. Repentance is, is just not one and done thing. It’s a continual spirit keeping our hearts clean before God. Don’t let things sit and hurt, stay and anger fester because pride will take in the way of the oil which in return will prevent the fire. Pride takes away everything from us. Oil only flows with pride, is removed. That’s a toughie. That’s a toughie for all of us right here.
Number five, how do we get more oil in our lives? We stay connected to God’s people. Now all of you have done that this morning. This might rub some people the wrong way. They might say, oh, you Christians, you just have your own club. You want to hang out, just together. Not true. Real community, not isolation for long periods of time. Helps with accountability, encouragement, sharpening knowledge and Bible skills. And it also is the place that God uses our gifts that he has given us to bring wholeness and purpose to the body. Our oil is pure, protected in the right environment. That’s with our Christian fellowship.
Another way to get oil in your life is worship. What we’re doing this morning, worship beyond emotion, not just when we feel like it. Faith and commitment to God deepens when worship isn’t dependent on things around us.
Number seven and our last one. How do we get oil in our lives? Our heart. Oil leaks from our hearts when we ignore what drains us. We need to protect our spirit and protect our heart and not let it leak out. We need to be aware and be careful who is speaking into our life or who are, who we’re listening to and what we are listening to.
We can pour gasoline on a fire and we might get a quick flame, but oil burns for a long time. So don’t pour gasoline on your faith. You want to pour oil on your faith.
God is looking for the chosen who have staying power. That’s us. That’s us.
There might be those moments when the music isn’t playing and Life gets dark. When those moments happen, we won’t need more fire. We’ll need to spend more time saving the oil and less time concerned with the fire. The fire may draw attention, but the oil determines if you last.
Amen. So put that oil in your life.
