← Living Church of God - Audio Sermon Library
Living Church of God - Audio Sermon Library
Lighting Our Fire
00:59:43
Jeffrey Fall | Recorded November 14, 2025
Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:00]
A
Sam, Good to be with you today. Happy Sabbath to you. I think many of us, or most of us remember what happened in January of 25 of this year when fire broke out in Southern California, down in Altadena and the Palisades area. There were 31 deaths. It was real tragedy in that area. And there were so many other things that were connected with loss of income, loss of work, loss of clean air and all the rest. I think there was over 100 to $150 billion in damage at that time. We know fire can be so destructive at times. It can be so extremely useful when it's used for the right purpose and also under control. It can cook our meals, it can warm our homes. It can generate electric power that we need, we all need in this modern age, even for the telecasts and so much other technology. I think the greatest example of fire under control is shown by God when he uses fire as a symbol of his presence and of his power. Moses met the presence of God in the form of. Of a burning bush. How miraculous would that be to see a bush burning but never burn up? The Israelites came in the presence of God at Mount Sinai. And of course, there was the evidence of fire as well and smoke. It was so impressive that they wanted to be separated from it. On Pentecost 31 AD God gave His spirit to the disciples at that time, that special Pentecost meeting. And there was the presence in time of the flames of fire on each one of them. It sat on their heads or shoulders, and I'm sure it impacted the rest of their life. They can always remember that evidence. You know, when God gives his spirit to us, it empowers us spiritually, not physically, but spiritually. It represents the power of the great God, the creator of the universe, who empowered the entire universe and planet Earth for that matter. And we're told, of course, with God's spirit, we're told not to quench it, not to let it go out. To quench and slowly go out. First Thessalonians 5:19. First Thessalonians 5 19, or we're instructed, do not quench the spirit. So it's evident that the Spirit of God can be quenched if we let it go. If we let it, well, kind of die down in our life. The analogy of fire related to the power of God's spirit is a very accurate analogy of something. We can almost visually see the examples in Scripture as well. Title of the sermon today is Lighting Our Fire. Several years ago, I started what I think of as a Bonfire in our backyard in a fire pit, unknown to me, there was a stump below the coals and a whole root system of a tree that was cut down many years earlier. And amazingly, we had invited church members over and it was probably a summer evening. We were sitting out there and the fire bonfire went on and on. And what surprised me is this. The next day the smoke was still going, the fire was still going throughout the day, and the next day it was still going in the morning. And I was kind of thinking, wow, is this an eternal fire? Well, I knew it's not an eternal or was an eternal fire, but it was strange to me. This fire didn't go out. And then our sprinklers came on, our water sprinklers came on and the fire was quenched and it went out pretty quickly. Well, what kept the fire going, interestingly, was the stump. And of course it burned up the stump, which I couldn't see with the coals, and the fire went down the major roots and left holes in it. Well, that smoldering fire was quenched. And that's something we have to think about in analogy. As far as we're told, don't quench the spirit, don't quench the fire of God, so to speak. So spiritually God gives his spirit and as it is to lead us, lead us in the direction we should go, to energize us spiritually, you know, if we allow it, we want God to energize us, to keep us even on fire spiritually, so to speak. And that's when we begin our spiritual journey after baptism as well, after repentance and laying on of hands as well. God's spirit within us then is a continuous source of spiritual energy. Of course, that's something we have to be involved with. We have to be desiring to have that energy, that spiritual fire burning within us. That's nothing we can add to if we seek it. Or we can let it slowly die down over time. Even potential, potentially even be quenched in the physical world. Fires can be supported with additional fuel. You know, you add more wood or whatever you're burning and fires are built or rebuilt, or they can be allowed to burn themselves out over time. If they're not tended, eventually they burn themselves out and there are some coals left and charcoal. Eventually that goes out as well. Spiritually, the same principle is operating within us with God's spirit. We can either add fuel to the fire, so to speak, or we can allow the fire to gradually diminish and hopefully we don't do that, but it can simmer down and it can be a very low fire. Now, at the very end of the age, we might ask, what is the crucial problem that plagues God's people the very last era before Christ's return? Is it false doctrine? Well, there can be false doctrine in some bodies that keep the Sabbath, and we know that, but it doesn't seem to be the primary problem within the last era of God's church and some churches of God that came out of even worldwide. Revelation 3:14. It speaks a little bit about God's spirit, about the issue before Christ's return with some people. Revelation 3:14 and the angel and to the angel of the church of Laodicea, Right, These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginner of the creation of God. Verse 15. I know your works. You know, Christ says this to each era of the church, the seven eras. I know your works. I know what you're up to, what you're doing, what you're not doing, that you are neither cold nor hot, you know, either kind of like extreme. I could wish you were cold or hot. And when it refers to hot here, it's the Greek word Zestos. And it actually, according to Strong's exhaustive concordance, it means boiling hot Zestos. Christ wishes that we were Zestos and with God's spirit. And I think that's something that we can all identify with. There are times when we're closer to God and times when we're not as close. So God's preference to his people is that they're either ice cold. It may indicating they've never received God's spirit. And maybe he simply lets them go for now. If they're not really seeking him, maybe their time will be later, then he will get around to them, maybe in the millennium, if they live into the millennium, if they live that long. Or he will work with them in the second resurrection. And that is the aspect of being ice cold. Boiling hot Zestos is what God wants of us. Those that are zestos, those that are boiling hot is what God wants from us spiritually, to kind of be on fire, as it were. Boiling water is 212 degrees. That's something you wouldn't want to put your hand to. It can be really painful. Body temperature is 98.6 degrees. Verse 16. So then because you are lukewarm, well, that's kind of in between. You know, God doesn't want us, you know, knowledgeable of the truth, but really kind of half hearted lukewarm, neither cold nor hot. I will vomit you out of my mouth. Well, the lukewarm part here is chilaros strong's concordance. Warm or tepid, you know, kind of like lukewarm coffee most people don't like. Some people like iced coffee. But you know, hot coffee generally is what is what we drink. Tepid water, kind of Lukewarm is about 85 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. And you know, that's kind of classic human nature as it is. Maybe in life we start out hot or excited about a new idea, about a new goal that kind of lights our fire. And over time we can slowly cool off, you know, and that's not something that God wants. It's what people do. It's human nature. It happens all over the world. It happens sometimes even among people of God. They can be excited about the truth coming into the church, the truth begin to live that way. And after a while, they slowly get distracted by the world and maybe their job, even health or other aspects or goals. And they slowly get distracted from their main goal, the kingdom of God, eternal life in the family of God. You know, how excited were you when you first came into the truth? We can think back however many years that was. You know, if you were raised in a church and that was great. How excited and on fire were you when you finally surrendered to God and were baptized? You finally thought, you know, I need to be on God's team. I want to be part of God's family. I want to have what God offers. I want to help other people. I want to be a. I want to be a better human being that God wants in my life. You know, brethren, it is a serious matter that we individually can think about, not others, but of ourselves, kind of evaluate ourselves from time to time. In general, cooling off is a major flaw in human nature. And God doesn't want that with our spiritual potential to cool off. So we have to ask the question, have we lost some of our heat about the kingdom of God itself and our training in this brief time of training, we only have a brief few years. We don't know how much time we have left. But we can't forget the goal, you know, that should be, can be the high point of our life, the reason for being. You know, there are other responsibilities and parameters in life. We know that. But what God wants of us to have that foremost in our life. And we lost some of our heat about regular church attendance, you know, being there, encouraging them, brethren, unto love and Good works. Sometimes we may not feel like it on a day, but maybe we go anyway because we want to be there for the brethren, to encourage them. And sometimes we get encouraged from them as well. Have we lost some of the heat about maintaining close contact to God in prayer and also study? Of course. Have we lost some of our heat about the work of the living God that this church is involved in? Or are we only primarily willing to pay it lip service? Have we lost some of our heat about working out our relationship problems with other people, with maybe a spouse or even on the job? It could be within our congregation as well. Are we too willing to compromise? Are you and I on fire spiritually? And that is the question. That's what God wants, a flame of fire. You might see an analogy, kind of exciting or alive as estos. Or are we cooling off slowly but surely, kind of imperceptibly over time, taking in the path of least resistance? It's the way human nature goes. Are we becoming lukewarm over time? And I suggest we look inward. You know, we can't be looking at other people and judging other people effectively. We can judge ourselves with God's help. And we need to analyze ourselves. We want to be more successful, don't we? We want what God has to offer, don't we? Isn't that the greatest thing we can imagine to be, well, eternally part of God's family? Eternal energy, eternal youth, never degenerating, eternal activity, purpose, job, fulfillment, everything we could ever want as well? So are we satisfied with where we are spiritually? Are we Zestos or not quite Zestos. Hopefully we're not lukewarm, of course. Really, with the ice cold part. Generally people don't last long, particularly without the help of God's spirit and their desire to be with God. Have you hit or have I hit a spiritual plateau? You know, we've been in the church maybe a few years, a couple years or 50 years, doesn't matter what. Sometimes we plateau out and we flatline instead of kind of slowly working our way up. And it's not straight up, but it's something God wants us to keep going with. Do we even recognize at this time that, well, maybe it's time to move to a little higher spiritual plateau closer to God. What is the outcome of life that was once for us on fire spiritually when we first came into truth? What struck us? Are we, on the other hand, gradually kind of cooling, been around the bush, around the block a few years? You know, we've known the Truth for quite a long time. It's common to us. Hopefully there's no apathy, but sometimes familiarity with the truth leads people to gradually cool off, and it's something we have to think about. Revelation 3 Again, verse 16. We read it a moment ago. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. You know, this implies we think that God will remove his protection in the future when things begin to degenerate, when society breaks down, when the economy breaks down, and potentially leading up to the tribulation and the day of the Lord, maybe not receiving God's protection at that time. You know, God knows what we need in our life. He knows us, then we know us. God may realize he loves his children. He may know that we need a little more motivation, a kind of a fire built under us to accomplish his purpose in our life. So hopefully we don't need that. Hopefully we want our spiritual fire to be Zestos. We want to be energized, not laid back and cool and indifferent as it might be. Second Timothy, chapter one and verse six, verse six. Second Timothy, chapter one and verse six, Verse 6, we read, therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. So Paul was speaking to Timothy. He says, stir it up. Well, how do we do that? Obviously, Paul was speaking of the gift of God's spirit in Timothy, which makes us spiritually alive and hopefully not lukewarm. Hopefully the spiritual temperature is rising. Verse 7. For God has not given us a spirit of fear. You know, fear of really ultimately fear of what Satan has to offer. As we move closer to God, we know God will take care of us, but of power, you know, spiritual power, it's speaking of not physical power, necessarily power, mental, emotional, spiritual power and of love, outgoing concern for the work of God, for others, for the purpose of God in our life. You know, we want to be around to help others in the millennium. And of a sound mind, you know, a sound mind recognizes that we do need God's help. We can't do it on our own and we can't grow frustrated when things happen in our life. Time and chance will happen. We know that we need to be close to God. We need to know that we're moving closer to God and we need to have a strong mind. In a sense, I'm not perfect, but I know I want and I need to move closer to God. I need that Zestos to keep me spiritually alive and Kind of on fire, so to speak. Are we individually then alive with the power of God's spirit? Well, none of us are perfect. Absolutely true that we should be moving that direction and recognizing God doesn't want us to remain static. He expects us to make changes, to realize. Kind of like a professional sports individual who realizes that analyzing his or her performance, even by video or however can see certain flaws, can improve is performance and ultimately have at least a better financial life. Not necessarily spiritual. Most of them are not tuned in that way. But God wants us to look at it the same way we analyze ourselves. You know, we recognize, hey, if I change this, if I change that, that I need to change, I'm going to have a better life and a better future. It is still cause and effect. And that's something we know, hopefully we all want. So again, the question is, are we though cooling off? That's something. We can only look inward with God's help. Sometimes we have to ask God to show us, show us what we need, what we need to change where we are. So what do we see when we look inward, when we give it some thought and meditation. And again, I'm not talking about looking at others. That's an easy game to play, you know, analyzing, criticizing, judging others. And that's not our call. You know, we're not called at this time in this age to be judging others. We are called to be judging ourselves. This is the time for judgment on the people of God. So again, we're going to look a little more closely at hopefully lighting our fire if and when, which is typically true, a little bit for all of us, that is lighting our fire, getting more enthused, excited, energized by what God's doing in our life and others. So we're going to look at ways then to increase our motivation. You know, motivation is so key. It can make the difference whether we're motivated or not motivated. I think motivation is such a key factor in our life to keep us first of all physically alive and doing what we need to do. You've heard of the human concept of the hierarchy of needs. Most people, a lot of people have heard of that the highest level of needs being physical needs such as air and water, food and sleep. We all need that to kind of survive long term. But most of us automatically are motivated to survive, are motivated, we want to live. If someone clamped their hand over your mouth and your nose, you would struggle and you cut off your area, you would struggle to get your next breath of life and we would be motivated Wouldn't we motivated to struggle with all our might. And that's a very high level, let's say a hierarchy of needs, this kind of survival, another order or next order of the fundamentals is needs, is safety. Safety, protection from danger. There's so many kind of dangers out there. A place to feel secure in our life, freedom from fear. Fear is something that's potentially always there. Fear of an accident, it looks like it's developing, or a vicious animal is natural and normal, but continually living in fear. What if. What if that happens? What if this happens? You know, it's not really what God wants in our life. He wants us to move forward, seeking his involvement, his protection, his intervention as well. So we are hopefully automatically motivated as we know, as far as the realm of survival and security, protection. But when it comes to our spiritual priorities, not the physical, but the spiritual priorities of our life, we tend to be less motivated. Why is that? Well, because we don't perceive any immediate threat. We just don't see it. We don't see what's beyond next year, five years from now. In truth, if we perceived a physical threat, you know, like maybe there was a militant, violent gang surrounding your house, trying to get in, you would be motivated. You would have fear of what's going to happen right now, and you would do something fast. And probably whether you'd call the police, you'd probably ask God, maybe start praying for God's protection, you know, beyond that safety and protection. We tend to be motivated by what we really want in life. Not as much what we should want, but what we really do, you know, deep down inside. Want in our life. What we should want doesn't motivate us, even though we may be aware of it. We're only motivated by what we really do want. That's true spiritually. When you think about it, you look at the parallel. We're only motivated spiritually when we really understand and want what God has to offer. When we understand, we see it, you know, we want what God. We want benefits in our life. We want eternal life. We want strong relationships. Over the years, I've seen a number of people who tell me they weren't motivated. They would admit they're not motivated as much as they should be. When I think about it, I realize, well, you can't just rich your teeth and be motivated. That doesn't work. My reply to them is, you know, it's time to seek understanding. It's time to look for understanding to God to show you what path you're on and how it may harm you, how God's way of life is going to benefit you. I mean, we're motivated by benefits. And if we don't understand it, we're not going to be motivated as well. Certain individuals then admit they've kind of cooled off and they may even be spiritually lukewarm. And it's about that time, if not sooner, to light our fire, to be thinking about, how can I make these changes? Let's look at several ways to light our fire to get motivated. Motivation is so crucial in our life. And. And again, we're motivated by what we really do want. Even spiritually, we're not motivated by what we should want. Remember that Paul told Timothy to stir up the gift of the Holy Spirit that God has given you, or God has given us. There's times to stir up God's spirit. Let's look at several ways to light our fire spiritually, to get motivated spiritually. You know, that's. That was the intent of Paul with Timothy. Timothy probably was stirred up. It's something we have to do multiple times in our life. So what do you do when a campfire or a fire in your fireplace starts to kind of dwindle down, starts to die down, and it's not doing much? Well, you stir it up. It allows more oxygen to get to the embers and the wood that might be burning. You stir it up with a stick or one of those fireplace pokers, the wrought iron poker. You stir up the coals and inevitably the fire begins to increase. It becomes more zestos in the fireplace. Same thing spiritually, when we think about it, when the fire is fading, you need to stir up God's spirit. You and I, all of us, need to stir up God's spirit. When, if the fire fades for a time. It takes effort, it takes determination, it takes action. That's something we have to realize. It takes action. God's not going to just do it without us, without our participation. Let's look at a few verses here. The first point I want to mention concerning becoming motivated in stirring up the Spirit is the instruction given in Revelation 3:19, Revelation 3:19. Speaking of being lukewarm, what Christ had to say, he says in verse 18, verse 19. Let's go to verse 19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. In other words, God corrects us. Hopefully we're receptive. Therefore he says, be zealous, be zestos and repentance. Notice that point number one is if we're going to stir up the Spirit, we have to at times repent. We have to recognize where we're at, admit it to God. And so the first step in God's word on the spiritual embers are beginning to kind of die down, cooling off, is to turn to God and to admit it that I'm not on fire. I'm not Zestos. I'm not where I should be. If we recognize it, we either cooled off or we've maybe never really even been on fire like we should be. Acknowledging the problem to God makes it more real. It makes it personal. When we verbalize it to God and in our mind, we kind of admit it to ourselves as well. And if we don't admit it to God and to ourself, nothing is going to change. We can just wish this or wish that. Wish I was more motivated, Wish this when wishing doesn't get the job done. So, number one, we're going to stir up the coals. If we're going to become more motivated, more zealous, more on fire, we need to repent when we recognize it. Number two. Number two, ask God for strength and willpower. Only he can supply willpower. So you need to be the one. I need to be the one in my life who breaks a cycle. It's our move. When it comes to rekindling the fire, it's our move. It's not God's move. He's already drawn us in the past. It's our move. We go to God. We ask for even the will. The will or motivation. Philippians 2:13. Philippians 2:13. In verse 13, we read Brethren, Philippians 2:1 chapter back, 2:13. For it is God who works in you. You know, it's the great God to will, notice that to even have the will and to do, be able to do it, follow through for his good pleasure. His good pleasure is that we succeed. That's at the core of it. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to be part of his family, or he would have never invited us in the first place. I think that's quite interesting. For it is God who works in you both to will. In other words, to have the desire. God can give us the greater desire. And to do that is the power, the ability to get the job done, to change, to overcome. So God can. It's basically saying God can give us the will and motivation if we go to God and we ask for it. The new living translation has it this way. For God is working in you, giving you the desire. We lack that sometimes. And the power, the ability to do what pleases him. You know, that's God doing it, seeking God, asking God for his help there, even having the will, the desire, ultimately the motivation, and then the ability to get the job done. Remember, it doesn't take any motivation to do things we want to do, that we really desire to do. The problem is sometimes we get our priorities out of order. We can ask God to help us get our priorities straight. What's most important in our life, you know, is it God's purpose? Is it the kingdom of God? Is it things like the work of God, additionally, all part of the same package? Is it eventually eternal life? You know, we need to turn our priorities into God's priorities, or vice versa, God's priorities into our priorities. He can give us the willpower, he can give us the motivation in what he desires and wants us to become. Is that hard to believe? His desire is to liberate us from Satan's world, you know, emotionally, spiritually, to liberate us from that world, from these eventually and a step further from these very limited physical bodies that we have now with all the difficulties and aches and the pains and sometimes physical degeneration. To liberate us, to eventually have a very powerful spirit body, incredibly powerful, I often think, forever youthful, meaning no longer as the spirit being, no longer a natural degeneration over time, like every body of energy in the universe, things cool off. I mean, that's the natural process. And God's going to liberate us from that, give us that eternal body, ever willing and able, having the ability to accomplish great things with other people, meaning in the millennium, helping them to begin to see the truth of God, having a greater understanding ourselves, ability to reach people. And I'll take a little time, but that will give us for the first thousand years. Can we say forever energized in what we're doing, forever fulfilled in our life and in our career, in the family of God. You know, everyone in our physical life would like to have a more, well, stimulating career, feel like it amounts to something. But God offers us the ultimate career, eternal life, firstborn first fruits, working with people for a thousand years, for starters, seeing their lives improve, seeing their marriages improve, seeing families improve, peace come to planet Earth. Well, of course we do know we need help as outside help, which is God Himself. Philippians 4:13. And we think about what God has offered us. And Paul came to this understanding and we should too. Verse 13, Philippians 4. Paul says, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended what but one thing I do. Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward toward those things which are ahead. Well, that's a good scripture. Let's go on to verse 14 of chapter 4. Start in verse 13. I can do all things. That's an incredible statement. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You know, it's not saying I can conquer the world. I can be the greatest musician. I can do anything I want. You know, sometimes people teach their children that. But he's basically saying, I can do whatever God wants me to do. Through Christ who strengthens me, I can get that kind of help. Christ living his life in us. You know, it's not hopeless of ourselves. It is hopeless. That's why we need to light our fire, to be closer to God, to stir up, you might say, the fire, God's spirit as it is. Well, there's a parallel. Christ said in Matthew 19:26. But Jesus looked at them and said to them, with men, this is impossible. Maybe different things that we need to accomplish in our life, but with God, all things are possible. In other words, if God's behind it, if we're with God, if he wants us to make huge strides and changes in life and get rid of baggage of yesteryear and clean out the things that need to be cleaned out, it's possible. That is, with God, with ourselves, it's not apart from God, it's not. But with men, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. You know, that's incredibly encouraging because we realize, hey, we're not alone. God doesn't expect us to accomplish all these things with our human nature and our background on our own, he's going to give us help. We need anything God needs us to do in our life, our character, our relationship, it is possible, it can be and will be accomplished if we're with God, if we're really, truly on fire seeking God. Let's move on to a third point. We're talking about ways of becoming more motivated, in turn, getting, let's say, Zestos in her life. And that is. I mentioned a little bit of this briefly. But number three, seek understanding with all your heart. Understanding is so crucial spiritually. Without understanding, people flame out when they don't really seek understanding. They could memorize truth, but without seeking understanding, they flame out. When we have understanding, when things begin to make sense, I think of it as the why of certain things. Why is God's law and his plan? How does it make sense? We begin to see in time cause and effect. God's way of life. We begin to see how things can begin to change. Benefits come, all that God has to offer. In other words, we begin to. When we begin to understand God's laws, we begin to understand the benefits of obeying God's laws. And of course, there are great benefits. There are so many others. Eternal life down the road is part of it. But in this life there are so many benefits. You know, God's way of life works, but only to the extent that we apply it. Only to that extent. Well, really understanding becomes a fundamental key of motivation. We are motivated when we want something. There can be carnal motivation too. We are motivated at a higher level when we see what God offers and we really do see the benefit and therefore we want it. And it's good for us, it's good for our family. Eventually it will be good for all humanity. Notice God's take on understanding and the resulting motivation. Psalm 119. Psalm 100, 1934. I think this verse is kind of key, a key to motivation. Psalm 119:34. It states, Give me like a prayer, give me understanding and I shall keep your law. I shall observe it with my whole heart. You know, the psalmist is saying here, when it makes sense to me, when I really get it, the benefits or the harm, let's say, if any, if we don't obey, you know, that gives us tremendous motivation. We see what God offers, we want the benefit, we're motivated. Give me understanding and I'll keep your law. You know, seeking understanding is so crucial to being motivated in God's way of life. He says, indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Well, why wouldn't he if he saw all the benefits, eternal life in the future, but the benefits in this life, something we have to meditate on, we have to analyze, we have to understand, seek understanding. So understanding leads to a motivated keeping of God's law. Just natural, you know, initially we want the benefits for ourselves, but in time we want the benefits for everyone in our church, members, our family, but eventually the whole world. When you have full understanding of God's laws, none of us have perfect understanding. But you really do begin to see what you want. You see the benefits. You can't help but being motivated. You don't have to grit your teeth and force yourself. You can't help but being motivated. You're motivated by what you really want. Mr. Herbert Armstrong stated seeking understanding was the driving force of his life. That was before his conversion, I think, to a degree, but even much more so after his Conversion. He wanted to know why, you know, the why of things. He wanted to know the why of God's laws in application. He wanted to know the why of God's plan, cause and effect, the blessings, the penalties. Naturally we don't want penalties, we want blessings. But if we don't see blessings and penalties, if we don't understand them, then we're not seeing them. We're not being motivated one way or the other. Don't we all want to be blessed with great things that God has to offer? God has prepared for us. Isn't that kind of, you know, when we begin to understand it? Of course we do. We do want what he has to offer. But does everyone seek understanding the why of things, Cause and effect of things? What happens if I don't keep this part of God's law? What's going to naturally happen over time? That's something we have to meditate and analyze on. Even those who know the truth don't always have understanding of the benefits, which is really the motivational aspect of seeking what God offers. Therefore we lack motivation if we don't have understanding. So the answer seek understanding with all your heart. Ask God to give you understanding the principles of his way of life. Not just the knowledge of them, but the understanding of them. You know, motivation always comes with understanding when one has deep understanding. Let's move on to a fourth aspect. Of course we're talking about being motivated. We're talking about being more on fire than spiritually, which God wants. Number four. Realize the fleeting nature of life. How many years do you have left to live? A year or 2 or 5 or 10 or 20? Of course it's unknown. What if you knew you had but one year in your life left in this, let's say, time of training, maybe 12 months, 365 days. Would you do anything differently? Of course you would. You start doing a few things differently. I would too. You know, again, we're not perfect in what we do. I bet you wouldn't spend your Sunday, so to speak, binge watching tv or during the week or nights or hours upon hours on the Internet. You know, you would be motivated. You would be motivated to make contact, to move forward. You know, the end of your life is coming. You would get serious spiritually, right? Well, why is that? Because you want what the great God has to offer. You want eternal life. That's natural, that's amazing. And you also want to increase your reward. That's not self centered, you know, so you can help others in a greater way in the Millennium, we kind of think of it as greater, even greater job satisfaction. You can help more people is what I'm saying. In short, your motivation level would most likely dramatically accelerate if you realize I have X number of months left in my life. It would dramatically accelerate when you realize you had that time left. Now, probably most of us would say, or some of us would say, oh, that's silly. I know I have more time than 12 months left, but do you really, do any of us really know the time we have left? Whatever amount of time you have left in your life left in my life will someday seem like a passing day for how brief it was. You know, it seemed like it went on and on and on, but eventually it ends. James, chapter 4, James chapter 4 and verse 13, James 4, 13. So James is giving a principle here about our focus, about our priorities. And he says, come now, you who say, today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and buy and sell and make a profit. It's kind of like, okay, this is my life. I got a game plan. I'm going to do this and this, and I'm going to make money and I'm going to be happy. Verse 14. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow, you have no idea even whether you'll be successful or not. But about your life, for what is your life? Think about human life. It is even like a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away and it's gone. You know, in the future, I'm sure maybe in the first resurrection, hopefully we'll look back and think, wow, yeah, that was brief. I thought. It went on and on and on and on, but it was so brief. You know, thinking about the millennium, thousand years ahead, you know, what's 70 or 80 years or beyond the millennium? Think about eternity. That's hard to think about, but way out into the future as well, shortly into the kingdom of God, we will look back. I'm sure. Maybe we'll wish we had been more serious. Even so, even though we're there, more focused, more motivated, more on fire, accomplished more. Many of God's people, in a few years from now will look back in the midst of the tribulation, the day of the Lord, and I say, God's people, God, whomever he is working with, and they probably will ask themselves, why didn't I take my calling more seriously? Why didn't I apply myself? I knew a lot of truth, or what we say is the truth, but I didn't take it that seriously, it wasn't the high point of my life. So the point is we need to be aware of the brevity of life and capitalize on what the time we have left. Number five. We're talking about aspects of stirring up the coals, aspects of being motivated. The final key then of lighting our fire, getting motivated, setting your vision on the kingdom of God. Our vision, our mind's eye. Thinking of the future, looking to the future. So a vision is the ability to see. Then we say in one's mind's eye, kind of visualizing, conceptualizing the future that's yet to come. Hasn't happened yet we know it's going to happen. Vision has always been a key to motivation and success. Looking forward to the future, not just now. You know what's happening in my life right now. Woe is me, maybe at times, but looking to the prize of our high calling. Now that was true for all the great men and women of scripture. You know, it would be hard to take a trip and be excited about taking a trip when you have no clear determination of where you're going, no clear and exciting endpoint, direction. Do we clearly see the kingdom of God in our mind's eye? Is it real to you? Is it your reality? Even though it hasn't even arrived, is it your reality right now? Classic example of vision is in Hebrews and I think this is something that obviously can be inspiring of others. Success should be ours. Hebrews 11, 9. And it says, speaking of Abraham in verse 9, by faith he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs of him of the same promise. For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. You know, here it's not some tent city we're talking about. Abraham apparently was actually looking forward to in his mind's eye, apparently been given that understanding, that information. Maybe even the heavenly city of Jerusalem, you know, the eventual headquarters of the universe. It appears to be the case. Verse 13. It says these all died in faith. Speaking of others, that we could listen to the great men and women of Scripture. They all died in faith, not have receiving the promises they hadn't received eternal life in the kingdom of God. But having seen them afar off, you know, real vision is real to you. It was real to them. Hopefully it's real to me. They were assured of them. They absolutely were persuaded. They weren't well, I hope such and such. No, they were persuaded. It says they embrace them. When you embrace Something, you hold it close to you like a young child would be an example. You embrace the kingdom of God. It's something that's close to your heart. You really have that hope, that drive for. And they confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They confessed. It was so real to them. They talked about it often and it leached out in a positive way into the conversation. It was that excitement coming out about what it's going to be like in the kingdom of God, of what life will be like on planet Earth and the future. And they talked about it often. They weren't embarrassed. It was real to them. They were motivated. It was their destination. Anytime we lose sight of God's kingdom, we lose sight of our spiritual fire and we begin to cool off. Bottom line is we have every reason to be on fire spiritually when we look at the truth. Even John the Baptist went about Judea baptizing many. But he stated Matthew 3:11. John the baptist, matthew 3:11, He said, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. You know, that desire to leave the past and things we've done wrong and our inner core, self centered, core, whatever, behind. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Notice that you might say, Zestos, that we can have baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. God intends for us to have that kind of enthusiasm, energy, spiritual energy. This applies directly to us, every last one of us. We've received God's spirit. We have access to God's power, the power of his spirit, the spiritual power, not physical power at this point, the spiritual power. And it's important, it's imperative that we don't allow the flame, the dim, or begin to die out. You know, as God instructed his priests in ancient Israel in the tabernacle or in the temple, to not let this flame die out, diminish, keep it going. Rather, it's very clear from Christ's warning to the church in Revelation 3, in the very last time, very last era, if God's church, there are people, there are some of God's people who are lukewarm, you know, they know the truth, apparently, but they're not doing a whole lot with it. They're not zealous, they're not zestos, they're not hot and on fire, so to speak. They're just kind of cool enough. And Christ says, you know, that's just distasteful he says, I will spew you out of my mouth. And to have the knowledge of the truth and not do something with it is a failure in God's sight. Hopefully. We don't need, let's say, to have a fire built under us in the tribulation or the day of the Lord. We have that understanding. We have access to God's spirit right now. And we can seek God and we can ask God for more understanding and in turn then more motivation to accomplish his purpose, to light our fire, so to speak, in our life and of course, be a help to other people as well. Well, it is very clear, brethren, that God intends for us to put energy, spiritual energy, into our lives, you know, not lay back and cool off. It is a warning to us. Revelation 3, you know, not to look primarily outward at other people and judging them, but looking inward, lighting our fire. Another way of saying getting excited. We have to ask God's help. We have to go to God. We have to repent occasionally, admit that we're not on fire as we should be, and we ask for God's gift of understanding. You know, we go to God, we want to know the depth of the truth. It makes sense. We become motivated, and in turn we, you know, we realize our life is so short, you know, it's like a vapor. We don't have forever and we have a little time left. We need to make sure our fire is lit and of course, keep that vision of the coming kingdom of God, you know, that central focus. We all desire eternal life and being able to help others in a real valid way. We just need to make sure we're not lukewarm, you know, that tepid temperature spiritually, but absolutely on fire for God's way of life and the amazing future that he offers every last one of us. Sa.