Why the Fire Goes Out

Looking at our world from a theological perspective, this is the Theology Central Podcast,

making Theology Central.

Good morning everyone, it is Tuesday, March 17th, 2026.

It is currently 12.26 a.m. Central time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central

Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas.

Now if you were in Abilene, Texas right now, and you were driving around and you turned

into my neighborhood, and you started driving down the street, as you got to the end of

the street right here in this residential area, you would see my house, has a blue door,

and you would see right there in the second story window, you would see the studio light

is on.

Now we tell you, oh, it's like 12.30 in the morning, the studio light is on.

I know what that means, he's about to do a broadcast, or he's already broadcasting.

Let me pull out the sermon audio app, let me pull out the church one app, let's see

what he's talking about at 12.30 in the morning, and you know typically these late night

early morning broadcasts tend to be more, I don't know, there's kind of an emotional

kind of element to it, it's very, you know, I'm contemplating, I'm thinking, it's kind

of, I don't know, I don't know how you would describe it, I don't want to necessarily

say devotional, but it's definitely more, me just, in some cases late night early morning

struggling with my own thoughts and with my own ideas, and well, I end up here in front

of the microphone, I turn on the studio light, and of course anyone driving by right now

outside, anyone in the neighborhood's like, oh, there he is, it's 12.30 in the morning,

I know what he's doing, sometimes they can probably see me in the window sitting here

because the microphone right here, and they're probably, oh, he's broadcasting, I wonder

what he's talking about now, well, if you're listening live, you're about to find out,

if you're listening to this, you know, during the normal time people are awake, you

miss the live broadcast, but hopefully the replay will be just as impactful, and I, some

ways, I think it kind of, I don't think you're going to get the same vibe, the same feeling

as listening to it at 12.30, 1.30 in the morning, I think it captures the emotion of it,

but so that's what we're going to do, so I can say it's late, I can say it's very early,

and this is that time of night slash morning where I think things get very, very honest,

and that's a lot, why I like to broadcast a lot of times at this time, because this is

the hour things get very, very honest, and I don't think there's a lot of honesty, if

I'm being honest with you, at least my feelings are, and you may disagree with me, I don't

think there's a lot of honesty in the church, I think the church is more performative,

I think the church is, it creates a, I don't think honesty and, and raw, real, I don't

think that's church life, at least that's my feeling, I think things are not necessarily

honest in church, I don't think things are really honest when the, when the worship band

is playing, when the lights are turned out, or when the, the worship band lowers the volume

and allows the people to begin to sing acapella, I don't think there's a lot of honesty going

on there, I think there's a lot of emotion, you could even argue some manipulation.

I don't think there's a lot of honesty whenever one's like, Amen, Amen, brother, preach

and brother, I, I just think again, sometimes that's, it's, it's what we're supposed to

do in church, it's our own liturgy, like you can have a liturgical service, that liturgy

may go back, you know, 500 years, a thousand years, that's a liturgy, but every church has

its own liturgy, it has its own structure, and I think a lot of times there's not a lot

of honesty in that type of environment, but right now midnight 12 30 AM, when it's just

you and your thoughts, when it's just me, myself and I, now I don't know what your situation

is, I don't know where you are, I don't know if you're sitting in a, a dark room, maybe

you couldn't sleep, maybe all the lights are offing, you just reached over and like, oh,

I got a notification, oh, it's that, it's that crazy guy from theology central, he's

live on the air at 12 30 in the morning, well, I can't sleep, but it's right there in these

moments when everyone else is asleep, that I think, I think this is when real, maybe

real honesty takes place, at least I, I want to believe that, okay, at least I think

that, so maybe, maybe tonight, now whenever it's 12 31 AM midnight, I think that's when

honesty takes place, and you can have a lot of thoughts, you can have many thoughts,

I'm not saying these thoughts that I'm about to describe are the thoughts you're having

this morning, but sometimes maybe at some point late at night early in the morning, you

started thinking it, maybe you started feeling it first, maybe it started with the feeling

and emotion, I think a lot of times we get very honest with our emotions and with our

thoughts, a lot of times maybe late at night, we feel, how do we, how do we refer to it?

The disconnect, we refer, maybe we feel the gap, maybe, I don't know if that's a good

way of describing it, we feel the gap, we feel the disconnect between what you were

told, the Christian life is supposed to be like, and what it actually feels like.

Do you ever feel that disconnect, do you ever feel that gap of, this is what you thought

the Christian life would be like, this is what you, you, you want it to be like, this

is what you desire to be like, it's what it was sold to you, because the church does

a lot of selling of a Christian life that I don't think actually exists, I think a

lot of it is fictitious, it's fantasy, it's like a, it's like an info commercial selling

you a product that doesn't actually do all the claims that is made for it, and I think

the church gives you lots of promises, lots of, of a picture of a life that sometimes

late at night you're like, what happened, what, where, where is, and that struggle may not

just be with the church, it may be with your whole concept of God, how God works, what

God does and doesn't do, and what he fixes, and what he doesn't fix, when he intervenes,

when he doesn't intervene, see our, our, my, my episode earlier today, I mean, that

was a troubling episode, and I didn't have a lot of answers, because I think if you've

been in church for any length of time, you've heard it, you felt it, that moment when,

I think we, I think almost all Christians have experienced this to some level, there are

times in your Christian life, let's say it this way, there are times, if you've gone to

church for any length of time, there are situations where you have felt it, maybe it was a revival,

maybe it was a conference, maybe it was a camp, maybe it was just a sermon, maybe it was a church

service, but everything seems to come alive, right, there's excitement, or as sometimes the

church loves to use this language, there was fire, you were on fire, you were excited, you were

a field with zeal, you were a field with passion, you were revived, things were going great

in your spiritual life, right, you felt different, you felt focused, you felt emotional,

again, that's what people call being on fire for God, let's get on fire for God, let's go to,

let's have a mountain-topic experience, let's fill the presence of God, let's be overwhelmed,

and a lot of people seek this, they go to conferences, and they go to revivals, and they

they're looking for, I think a lot of people are always looking for that innocent spiritual hit,

and I'm using kind of a, I know that's more of a drug reference, but we need that hit,

I need that injection, I need another, I need my fix,

but sooner or later, no matter what you experience, no matter what you feel,

life comes back, routine comes back, and suddenly it's gone,

and now it's midnight, now it's well, now it's currently, it's actually to be technically correct,

it's now 12.35 am, and you can be sitting there, you can be laying there thinking, what happened?

Why didn't it last? What's wrong with me?

And maybe sometimes you look back in your Christian life, and you felt it, and you're like,

what happened? Where did it go? What occurred? And there can be lots of reasons, we could get

into all of the psychological reasons, I mean, there's a lot of ways we could discuss this,

but we're going to approach it, and I don't know, maybe you'll find it interesting,

maybe you will not, but you know what I was doing, you know, I was on sermon audio,

I spent a good portion of my life on sermon audio, okay, I really do, and so I was on sermon audio,

and I don't even know how I found it, maybe it was under, I don't even know, I don't,

sometimes I don't even know where, I just start, I just start working my way through sermon audio,

and sometimes I don't know, I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque, how did I end up here,

and I never know what I'm going to stumble upon, sometimes I stumble upon something I'm like,

wait, what? What is this? I mean, come on, that message we reviewed just that small clip of from

earlier today, I mean, what was that? I mean, and even at the very beginning of that sermon,

he makes a claim that almost destroys the omnipresence of God, I mean, that thing was,

may, I mean, come on, what was happening there? But well,

again, I don't know how I ended up here, but I ended up with a message,

and it's almost right at the beginning of the message, before he really gets into the text,

he kind of lays a way, he lays out a way of understanding the Christian life, a way of explaining

why revival happens, how we feel spiritual, and then how we're supposed to stay that way,

how are you supposed to stay on fire for God? And I, and I think, I don't know, you'll have to

make your own determination, I think for many of you it's going to sound right, it's going to

sound like he, like it explains your experience, it may, it may even sound like the answer, but

personally, I think what he says actually creates the very problem I'm trying to describe,

personally, and I know that his answer and his way of describing his philosophy, his theology,

it may not be articulated in the way he's going to articulate it with a very strong

southern accent, I think maybe Tennessee, I don't know exactly where the church is located,

it may not sound the way he's going to sound, but the idea is articulated in many churches.

So what I'm going to do is we're going to just listen to a part of the message, I'm not going

to try to go too long, I just want to try to hear, I want you to hear how he explains how it all

works, and then we're going to stop and we're going to think about it, we're going to think about it

carefully, we're going to think about it biblically, we're going to think about it honestly,

because if we don't get this right, then every time midnight comes around, we're going to keep

asking the same question, why can't I keep the fire? Why? What is wrong with me? Why am I not

revive? And if I'm being honest with you, he uses a verse in Leviticus chapter 6,

and what he does with this verse in Leviticus chapter 6, if I'm being very honest with you,

makes me very emotional, because I think what he does with this verse in Leviticus is absolutely

good. It's inexcusable, because it turns it into something you must do when I think the whole

point of the passage is about what Christ has done, and the American church is so good at that,

taking, keeping us away from what Christ has done for us, and always find some way to turn it into

what you and I must do, they always want to place a burden upon us, they always want to make it

something we're supposed to do in our flesh, in our life, it's something I should be, I didn't do

this right, that's why I don't feel right at midnight, and I just, yeah, and so I'll try to get to

that, I may jump to that, I don't know exactly which direction we're going to go, it's a little

after mid, I mean, it's a little, it's, it's 40 minutes after midnight, and I just know that

I'm going to have lots of thoughts, and I just, well, I don't know how late we're going to go,

I don't know, we're just going to find out, all right, we're just going to, we're going to see

what happens, but here we go, I'm not here to, I'm not even going to give you the name or anything

like that, because the goal, the goal here more, it's not, again, so many times I know people so

misunderstand me, when I listen to a sermon, if I criticize a sermon, it's not about the church,

it's not about the speaker, it's not even about that sermon, it's about the concept, it's about the

eye, it's never about personality, it's never about person, it's, it's about ideology, it's about

a theology, it's about an interpretation, so it's irrelevant, I'm not here like, look at this

church, I know, I will tell, and in many cases, I will tell you, go subscribe to it, listen to it,

I, it's not, it's not about that, it's about, oh, here's the concept, let's talk about the concept,

but I want to tell you where the concept comes from, right, so, um, a lot of people just miss,

you know, I, and again, when I find these sermons, I don't go looking for anything, I, I just go

looking, I don't go looking for something bad, I don't go look for something good, I just look,

and then wherever I end up is where I end up, and where I end up, sometimes I don't even remember

how I got there, I clicked on this, and then I clicked on this, and then I followed this, and then I

followed this, and then I'm like, oh, here we are, okay, and sometimes it's just a matter of going

to new sermons, I'm like, there's the newest one, and I just kind of say, whatever is there is

what I'm stuck with, the end, I'm not going to look any further, right, and sometimes I'll go to

the new sermons and just, you know, go go down, you're kind of swipe up, swipe up, swipe up,

swipe up, boom, and just click one, because I like the randomness of it, because I don't know where

I'm going to, what I'm going to find, and sometimes I find something good, sometimes I find

something bad, and this one I'm going to be honest, I'm kind of somewhat disturbed and bothered,

but I hope what, when I explain it, I'm not going to, I'm not going to explain it so much in a

yelling way, but more in a broken way, because it really kind of just made me sad, but,

all right, but here we go.

We read verse number 13, the fire shall ever be burning upon the altar, and it shall never

go out. I understand this is the Sunday after revival, and it's already been said several times,

it's said on Friday, and it's said this morning, a couple of times that everybody's tired, it's been,

it's been a good week, but revival, part of revival is the wearying of the flesh.

Okay, we have a lot going on right out of the gate, all right, right out of the gate.

He reads Leviticus 6.13, I know we didn't actually give you the scripture, but Leviticus chapter 6

verse 13, the fire shall ever be burning upon the altar, it shall never go out.

Now, the title of the message is don't let the fire go out, and immediately you have to see

the setup. It becomes Leviticus 6.13, now it becomes about you, you don't let the fire go out.

It's all of a sudden about a, it's not about the fire, it's a different kind of fire, because

obviously I can't keep the fire in Leviticus 6.13 from going out, I'm not a Levitical priest,

I'm not near the tabernacle, I'm not near the temple, well the temple is destroyed, the tabernacle

is gone. So obviously what he's going to do is hey, they were not to let that fire go out, and

somehow it becomes now about some metaphorical fire that I'm not to let go out, and it becomes

about me, and that is massively problematic, because it destroys what that, how about that fire

not going out, what it should really point you to, and it has nothing to do with you, has nothing

to do with your devotional time, your Bible reading time, or church time, but he's about to kind of

give a, he kind of gave a little philosophy there about revival. Did you hear it? I'm going to back

it up here, I know it goes really quick, but just let's listen to it.

Morning, a couple of, I'm back it up a little bit more, a little bit more, I don't want to get

into all the singing, here we go. All right, let's try it again a little bit further.

We read verse number 13, the fire shall ever be burning upon the altar, and it shall never

go out. I understand this is the Sunday after revival, and it's already been said several times,

it's said on Friday, and it's said this morning, a couple of times that everybody's tired,

it's been, it's been a good week, but revival, part of revival is the wearying of the flesh,

that the spirit might be rejuvenated and revived inside. I,

that kind of gives a little bit of a philosophy there. Revival, part of it is, is wearing the flesh,

revival wearies out the flesh, and so then the spirit can be revived. So the way the spirit

is revived is by you wear out the flesh, if you wear out the flesh, then the spirit is revived.

Now this concept has a long history and Christianity leads to a setisism and a lot of issues

that we could get into, a lot of stuff that would go on in the monastic world, but I mean,

we could get into a whole thing, but just know that's kind of his philosophy, right? Revival,

part of it is to weary the flesh, to wear out the flesh so that the spirit can be revived,

just like the spirit can't be revived unless we wear out the flesh, and we wear out the flesh.

Well, I think he's going to talk more about it. You can hear it.

Really believe this brother Dustin, that if we go through a meeting, a week-long meeting,

whether it be Revival or Camp Meeting, part of the, part of the attraction of that meeting,

as far as the accomplishments that have been done, is the wearying of the flesh, the wearying

of the body. It's set up that way. That's the purpose is to wear it the flesh, that the spirit

might benefit. I have to keep the things of this flesh beat down and beat down and warn out,

you don't have time to sit there in the evenings and watch television till you should have been

the bed already. You don't have time to be on the phone and talk to everybody about everything

and get sucked into the gospel pose. You don't have time to do the things you may do that your flesh

likes to do, that's not pleasing to God. So that's part of the attraction to a week-long meeting

like with hand. It's because the flesh is beat down, the flesh is wore out and it gives opportunity

for the spirit of God to work in our hearts and to do something in our soul. But I'll be honest with

you, I know today also. It's the Sunday before a federal holiday. It's a holiday weekend. I know

people got things on their mind. Some of you go have cookouts and some of you go have a little

get together with family. Some of you go out of town and celebrate this socialist union hall. I

mean Labor Day. But I said that in for brother Jean. He's a union man and I'm confederate.

Okay now please don't hit the whole concept is that revival you have a week-long meeting

where you just wear out the flesh. You just wear it out. You don't have time to do all this

stuff. You have to keep going to another revival meeting. You have to keep going to another

revival meeting. You do all of your activities during the day then you go to church and then you go

home. You don't have time. You wear out the flesh and then and what's interesting then that's

going to give the spirit of God the opportunity to do something. So it's like the spirit of God can't

do something unless we something there is an environment that is designed to wear out the flesh.

And if the flesh can be worn out then but does it require a revival service to wear out the flesh?

I mean logically could you not wear out the flesh by I don't know exercising could you not wear

out the flesh by working longer at work having more responsibility all you have to do is wear out the

flesh and then the spirit can do something. So it's it's just this weird kind of concept like

the spirit wants to do something but the flesh stops it but if you wear the flesh out then the

spirit can can be activated which I mean that whole philosophy that we could get into a whole

discussion but let's continue. But anyway you're going to enjoy the holiday and there's nothing wrong

with that but I want you to remember and realize God has met with us this week and how we may not

have shouted the house down like some of us so would like to from time to time. I'll be honest

with you you'll be hard pressed to find anybody like shouting and running and hooping and hollering

more than I do. I mean I love it brother Mitchell I long for it I can I've got good memories of days

like that but I'm not naive enough to know that just because it may not be one type of a one type

of a message service does not mean that God did not meet with us and do something it was very

evident to me and I'm not bragging at all I don't mean it that way but brother Chad it became very

evident to me Friday. I just go about my normal business Friday about lunch time I drove down

to Dalton had lunch with my daddy and another preacher that drove up from South Georgia and I

noticed brother Tom that there was some sparks inside of me that worked there two weeks ago there

was some fires rekindled in my heart that had grown dormant and had gotten cold in my soul a couple of

weeks ago I'm talking about seeing men and women all over the restaurant and seeing them as they

are as sinners headed for hell and being broken in my heart over their lost condition not just

seeing them as just another person walking around by something or something had revived in my

heart and in my soul and I saw them for what they were I'm talking about tender moments by yourself

with God I heard the song on the radio and it touched your heart like it didn't touch you

a three weeks ago I'm talking about doing things around my house that you're whistling a song

that you hadn't whistled in a while and you're humming good songs and sang it instead of them

our country songs and different things that you bombarded about in the daily life and which we

live I'm talking about having a revival in your heart and abandoning your soul it was not

their days before all right so the whole revival thing is very much emotionalism right emotionalism

so the way it kind of works is you wear the flesh down right you got to be in an environment to

wear the flesh down and so that your normal life is disrupted and your distractions are removed

and then God can do something and then you're just filled with this emotion and this overwhelming

sense of this and you're aware of this and and I you're not singing country songs and right over

the case may be and so very an emotional kind of of concept all right but let's see if he adds

a little bit more to his philosophy being broken over loved ones being broken over

sinners being broken in your heart over the past crisis Jesus Christ pays for you and I

that's revival has touched my heart and helped me I know we didn't shout it out and how we

didn't hang for no shadow liars and jump any benches or anything like that but man God really

done some things in my heart I hope he done some things in yours as well but it's heavy on my

heart today to remember and recall how that it's high responsibility to keep the fire burning

oh and there it is all right so we got to wear the flesh out then God spirit can

activate and then we will the spirit will then activate these things inside of us which is very

much emotionalism but then it comes down to it's your responsibility to keep the fire going it's

your responsibility so it's not God's responsibility so yeah you've got to wear you got to be in the

right environment so that the flesh gets worn down then the spirit can work but the spirit is

only going to keep working if you keep the fire going and again I don't know what any of that

has to do with a little bit because because it doesn't have anything to do with the text all right

so I will go just a little bit longer and then we'll really break this down and then show you

a lot of the problems with this approach that's what we just read these leave I'd say had a

responsibility to keep that thing going said don't let nothing put it out and don't even not even

don't let nothing put it out I mean you know if you're trying to keep the fire going and

and something comes up and how you got to keep it from going out you I may not only do you block

it from certain things you may you may keep certain things away from it like water you don't

will quench it you wouldn't put too much stuff on it and grieve it you want to keep it burning don't

let nothing put it out but then also by neglect sometimes we let things just go and burn out

he said not only don't keep it don't let it not don't put it out but then he said the fire

shall ever be burning upon the altar you can start a fire and it can burn and nobody can put

it out and it can still die he said keep that thing burning it shall ever be burning upon the

altar it shall never go out this is I know this is Old Testament now I'll be honest with you

my message on my heart I don't know how to get it out I've wrote some notes down I don't know

how to get it out the way I feel like it needs to get out but God has rekindled things in my heart

this week and I'm just talking about me and I'm sure tapping you God's kindled things in my heart

this week and it's my high responsibility to keep it going or if I was over brother Dustin

and brother Langston has come priest all week long God's met with us he's back home and you're

going to go back to work Tuesday after you had a holiday and you're going to see family you're

going to see them old people that you had to see every day you're going to see them same problems

you had to deal with for the last few weeks that you got a little bit of a break from this last week

but life is out there and it's still waiting on you just like it was before but it's your

responsibility and my responsibility to keep the fire going again it's just insane that is using

Leviticus 6 Leviticus 6 is not about your responsibility to keep the fire going you're not even in

question here it's about the Leviticus keeping the fire burning and what is this fire for this

is this is instructions for the burnt offering this is the fire for the burnt offering for an

offering and so we'll talk more about that so let's just try to go this that kind of what are you

saying is when the flesh is worn down then the spirit works more freely or the spirit can do its

job all right so weaken the flesh you increase spiritual activity all right now

if we if we just start right here where is the passage that teaches this god works more

because you are tired spiritual effectiveness increases when you're worn out

this is not he's not I mean it's just he's not implying it I mean it's

he's he's I mean I guess you could I can't I mean maybe you can find a scripture where you say

this concept is assumed or this concept is applied but you're not going to find I mean where are

you going to find it where it's actually taught because what we have in Leviticus 6 verse 13 has

literally nothing to do with anything he's talking about it's about priests it's about an altar

it's about a literal fire and it's about a sacrificial system so his entire framework is not coming

from the text he's preaching all right in no way shape or form he's taking a literal priestly

command about fire and he's turning it really into a psychological explanation for spiritual

experiences that's not interpretation he's importing his philosophy onto the text all right

and the mechanism he's describing is not really supernatural it's it come on let's be honest

I mean he's describing less distraction less stimulation more focus increases emotional

intensity and well we need a little physical exhaustion so we can get more of an emotional

intensity out of you all right so this produces kind of a heightened emotional sensitivity

increased inward focus stronger subjective experiences and this is not unique to Christianity

this happens in retreats and camps and some forms of military training you do the same thing right

I mean you you go sleep deprivation so then increase this or to increase we'll see if you'll break

all right uh does some of this kind of stuff happens in concert environments where now you take

away distractions and you focus a lot of these things happen this is human psychology this is not

the work of the spirit in any way shape or form and just because something feels spiritual just

because something sounds spiritual just because the church talks about it does not mean it is

spiritual all right and if this system is true then the logical conclusion is the more you suppress

the flesh the more spiritual you should become so if you'll just wear out your flesh you'll

become more spiritual if you'll just wear out the body but see that's making the body the problem

and not the sinful nature inside the body this becomes very gnostic and in some ways right it's

the body it's the body but the it's not my physical body it's my internal sinful nature now my

flesh has its wants and its needs and its desires but the sinful all the sinful ideas come from

inside of me I can wear my body completely out those sinful desires and wants and needs arise

from inside of me so already we have kind of a weird anthropology and understanding of the body

at versus the nature we we getting into all kinds of weird concepts and this leads to asceticism

this leads to self-denialism mechanism this this leads to kind of an environment-based spirituality

and the New Testament never teaches exhaustion produces spirituality all right I mean in fact

Jesus withdrew to rest the body is not I don't think the body is necessarily treated as the enemy

it's the spirit it's the sinful nature and spiritual life I don't think it's tied to artificial

environments and basically he creates a law all right because he moves from explanation to

obligation God did something and why did he do something because while we created an environment

that wore out your flesh boom that activated the spirit but all right now revival is over okay

you're getting ready to go on vacation because it's a federal holiday coming up it's a long weekend

now come on guys you got to wake up because you have to keep it going you've got to keep the fire going

so now your spiritual state depends on your ability to maintain it

and what is that going to produce constant pressure constant self-evaluation and it's going to

produce constant failure because no one maintains that level of intensity nobody does

so if your life spiritual life depends on a certain environment a certain feeling a certain level of

intensity then your spiritual life is going to collapse and upon itself it's going to implode

because every time your life returns to any sense of normal normalcy you're going to be like oh

no what happened you let the fire go out you remember Leviticus chapter 6 you got to keep the fire

burning you got to keep the fire burning oh man I've heard I I've probably even preached messages

like that you got to keep how do we keep the fire burning we read the Bible we memorize the Bible

we go to church and it's going to turn into a list of 75 don't do this don't do that

that'll put water on the fire he's already building it you don't put water on the fire you don't

quit shit he's already kind of giving you what he's going to turn into an allegorical approach to

Leviticus 6 which there's nothing allegorical about it it's a literal fire literal priests and the

literal fire had to be literally kept burning for a literal reason because of sacrificial the sacrificial

system his system explains why you feel revival temporarily I try to explain you let the fire

go out but but he also in a sense he also in a sense guarantees it right um he all but he also

guarantees that that that kind of he kind of I guess in a roundabout way um I think in a roundabout

way he's kind of guaranteeing that it's I don't I he's he's kind of making a guarantee that it's

going to go out and it's going to be your fault I think thinking around about way all right um

I think this is what I think what this is what we should do this is what how we should correct this

all right because if you look at Leviticus 6 and I think this is very important all right

the fire and Leviticus 6 the fire that should ever be burning is ongoing sacrifice

the priest has to maintain the system and the system is never ending the point is not about your

passion the point is not about your zeal the point is not about your dedication the point is

the work of that sacrificial system was never finished the constant fire showed the need for constant

sacrifice which ultimately pointed to the insufficiency of the entire sacrificial system it was

never going to fix the problem because the people kept sending so you kept needing more sacrifices

you needed more blood you needed more animals to die and you needed the fire for the burnt

offering because sin kept happening the fire was going not because this represent your passion

and zeal and a hunger for God it was because people kept sending

so instead of keep the fire burning the trajectory of Leviticus 6 should take you to Hebrews

where we learn that Christ ends what never stopped Christ was sacrifice once and for all

Christ is the final sacrifice his work is sufficient his work is enough I don't need blood and more

animals and more animals I have the perfect blood of the eternal Son of God who died who finished

the sacrificial system who ended it the those priests had to keep the fire going because the people

kept burning I don't need to keep the fire going because Christ has satisfied the the righteous demands

of God and has washed away my sin as far as the east is from the west it's not about me keeping the

fire going it's the fire can go out because Christ has satisfied all of the demands of God

that that that's what makes me so mad

he's telling me he's telling me to go to Leviticus and I'm I gotta keep the fire going I gotta

keep doing more I need to do more don't let the fire go out come on man read more go to church more

do more don't let the fire go out don't let the fire go out that is I'm sorry that's utterly blasphemous

because one I can't keep that fire going to the fire you're telling me to keep going has nothing

to do with Leviticus 6 and a set of allowing Leviticus 6 to be used to take me to Hebrews

where I have the final sacrifice Christ was Christ died once and for all

he is the final sacrifice look I he is the perfect sacrifice

neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood he entered in in once into the holy

place having obtained eternal redemption for us for if the blood of bulls and of goats and ashes

of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifyeth to the purifying of the flesh how much more

shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without

but to God to purge our conscience from dead works to serve the living God

I mean we there's so much more we could we could we could

I oh man I I'm just looking at all the verses that we could look at so Christ was once offered

to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin

unto salvation for Hebrews chapter 10 for this verse 2 for then would they not have ceased to be

offered because that the worshipers once purged should have no more conscience of sin but these

sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sin for it is not possible that the blood of goats

the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin wherefore when he comeeth into the world he said

sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a body thou hast prepared for me and burnt offerings

and sacrifice for sin thou hast had no pleasure then said low I come in the volume of the book as it

is written to do thy will oh God above when he said sacrifice and offerings and burnt offerings and

offerings for sin that wouldest not neither had his pleasure therein which are offered by the law

then said low I come to do thy will oh God he takeeth away the first that he may establish the

second by which will we are by by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body

of Jesus Christ once for all and every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes

the same sacrifice which can never take away sins but this man after he had offered one sacrifice

for sins forever sat down at the right hand of God he takes a passage of scripture that's not

even about us and says you got to keep the fire going you got to keep the fire going no Leviticus 6 is

saying yes the fire had to keep going because people keep sinning and that system was never going

to solve the problem but it points to the one who offered himself once and for all the final sacrifice

who then sat down at the right hand of the father his blood is sufficient his sacrifice is

enough it's finished the work is done I don't need to keep the fire going because all my sins have

been covered in the blood of Christ they've been removed as far as the east and the west I can rest

I can relax I don't need to keep anything going it's all been done for me oh die Christ his righteousness

has been imputed to my account and to turn that into you've got to keep the fire going

it's almost blasphemous what is happening here and and pastors do this all the time

let's listen to just a little bit more I want you to notice first off the nature of the fire

the nature of the fire this fire is to be a hot fire it is the fire of burning sacrifice burning

offerings now he does tie it to sacrifice is here but is he going to focus on the fact that this

sacrifice points to the ultimate sacrifice and so therefore I don't need to keep the fire going

because Christ took care of what this fire was all about or is he going to focus on the fact that

it was hot so I got to keep my fire burning hot which ways it going to go this is not this is not

a fire you're just going to roast a weenium this is a fire they're throwing whole animals on this

altar and it is consuming those animals they're taking they're taking calves and they're cutting

them up in their appropriate places and they're putting them on top of that fire and that fire

is consuming that flesh and consuming that meat this fire should be a hot fire which is only

kind of fire it's worth having I mean I they don't have any cold fires that I know I've never

reached out and touched the flame and said oh that's cold fires are supposed to be hot fires are

supposed to be hot revelation he said I wish to use hotter cold but you lukewarm you said you

used to be further along than y'all you used to be excited you used to be warm you used to cry

and they were warm tears of joy and they were warm tears of love for your loved ones they've been

how you cry in bitterness because you're not getting your way my mind it's a hot fire but then not

only the nature this fire is a hot fire but it's a holy fire this isn't just some normal fire this

is a holy fire this is the fire on the altar of God I hope I'm getting this pouring across it's

not a strange fire you find couple chapters later own few chapters later Aaron so he he's not

even he's not even allowing the text to go where it needs to go that's sacri that fire had to

keep burning because the people kept sending and there was a never ever in need for sacrifice

because it did not ultimately take away their sin it may have covered it for a period of time

but it did not ultimately take it away until the final sacrifice Jesus Christ come I don't need to

keep the fire going because Christ died for me he died once for all to take away sin I don't need

to keep the fire going I just need to trust in what Christ has done for me and I can rest in that

so here we are it's now after 1 a.m so if you feel cold if you feel tired if you feel just normal if

you feel not on fire for God then let me tell you something the answer is not hey hey you didn't

keep it going come on you're supposed to keep the fire burning no no no no no no no no no no no no the

question is were you given a system by Christianity and by the church that could never be sustained in

the first place and it wasn't supposed to be sustained because well it's a bit it's completely

finished in Jesus Christ because if your spiritual life depends on maintaining a fire

you're going to eventually be sitting exactly where you are right now wondering why it went out

but maybe that's the problem it's not that you lost something

maybe the problem is what you were told

so when you feel

the his entire system is just completely it's just completely messed up and his conclusion is

completely messed up all right it really is all right the whole thing it's just is not the way

it's supposed to be all right the way it's supposed to be and it's it's I cannot stress this

enough the way it's supposed to be is um

it's supposed to be to to ultimately see what Christ has finished accomplished and done and

that it's sufficient right because

if you don't see that then you've missed the whole point all right um the whole thing is

fallen apart if you don't see that in the correct way all right so it's not about trying to fix us

it's not about trying to recreate the feeling it's not about blaming yourself

the whole system is just flawed the whole system is wrong the whole system is is is the problem

because what you should do is man the viticus chapter 6 they had to keep that fire going

I know why they had to keep that fire going did people kept sending man that's horrible

that means that system just never never take away this in but ultimately if I go to Hebrews

Christ once and for all died that's the focus that's where that's where we go he died he's my

justification he's my sanctification he is he is my righteousness he is my he is my

deliverer he is my he is washed me as white as snow he is propitiated the wrath of God he is

his righteousness has been imputed to my account it's to look to Christ and to rest in what he has

done it's not about a feeling it's not about an emotion it's not about quote unquote being

revived so you can feel something it's about being revived to see Christ the beauty of his sacrifice

the sufficiency of the sacrifice and to rest in that and I hope you rest with that

in and on your mind there's a lot more I could say

but I'll stop right there there's a lot more I wanted to say but yeah I mean that man

and he just uh yeah well you can I mean if you want you can find the sermon online you can find

it on sermon audio he's gonna just go into full blown rants over music and it's gonna I think

he I think he starts yelling about Christian rap and Ozzy Osborne and and just all kinds of

just you know he's gonna do the strange fire thing and it's gonna turn in about you know

those strange fire being offered in churches it's nothing to do with the concept there and

there's just so many problems with everything that happens in the sermon it just becomes a

it just it becomes a disaster but the main thing is it's it's like hey you keep the fire going

and it's like no I don't have to keep the fire going because that fire was for sacrifice

I don't have to keep anything going because that sacrifice has been sacrifice once and for all

and has removed my sin permanently because it was covered in the blood of Jesus Christ and for you

to tell me to keep the fire going is blasphemous and you're trampling underfoot the actual

sacrifice of Jesus Christ I don't need to do anything because it's done

thanks for listening everyone have a good morning or if you're gonna go to bed in a little bit

have a good night God bless