Flames: Put Em Out - Fan Em

     

 There are several things about flames that I wish I could talk with everyone about, especially after talking about the A-Force this past weekend:

     First: Flames will ignite whatever they are near that is flammable. Allowing the flame of anger to linger in our lives will ignite things like rage, bitterness, malice and ultimately as these things burn in our hearts and lives they will destroy us.  Mom and Dad were right when we were kids, don’t mess around with fire you will get burned!  Don’t let it linger any longer – put out the flame of anger.

The good news is, as we fan the flame of godly anger we can ignite the passion and love of Jesus in the lives of the world around us. This is a picture of fire being used for good, to warm and light everything around it. Prayerfully ask God to stir godly anger in your heart and life, that you would see the world and others the way He sees them, as His masterpiece.

     Second: a flame will only continue to burn as long as it has oxygen. So starve the flame of anger of anything that would fuel it or allow it to continue to burn and make sure that the flame of godliness has plenty of oxygen to burn through prayer and Bible reading. You can also give the flame of godliness the fuel it needs by being connected with Jesus body, the church.

     Third: as human beings we God has given us the choice of what we are going to allow to burn as the flame of our lives. The world is pressing us daily to burn with passions of the flesh, including anger. God is drawing us near to Him every day wanting us to burn with the power of His presence in our lives so that we would ultimately live the rich and satisfying life He came to give us.

It’s a choice, put out the flame of anger and ask God to stir within our hearts the flame of godliness.

What you need to know about this weekend:

•  It’s Veterans day and we have a special video we will be showing to honor our Vets. Thanks to all of our Veterans for all you’ve done and are doing for the cause of freedom!
• Our Youth Band will be leading us in a time of worship. I love the life, passion and maturity of our youth band. You won’t want to miss a single song as they lead us!
• I will continue our weekend talk series Enemies Of The Heart as we look at the third of four emotional forces that left unchallenged in our hearts will ruin our relationships and ultimately our lives. This weekend we will look at Jealousy and some very practical Biblical ways to deal with it so that we can live in freedom and prosper in our relationships.

Looking forward to seeing you this weekend at Alive!

In Christ, Jeff