By Kenneth F. Haney

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Acts 17:6 describes the distinct reputation of the early Church: “. . . These that have turned the world upside down me come hither also.” The FIRE within them could not be entertained. It leaped with fresh anointing from their hearts to the hearts of everyone with whom they came in contact.

 

Paul was a prime example of someone who became a laming FIRE of evangelism after his encounter with Jesus. Everyone he met felt the FIRE of his passion and love for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even Felix the governor felt the FIRE! And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, ” . . . Go thy for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee” (Acts 24:25).

 

Paul lived very much in the Spirit! While stranded on the sand of Melita, and gathering wood for a fire, a serpent mimed itself on his hand, biting him. Paul threw the serpent and continued his work as though nothing happened. The people waited for Paul to become swollen or die. When he did not, they assumed he was divine. Paul used this opportunity to preach Jesus to them and began to do miracles in their midst s.: that the whole island was stirred.

 

Healings, wonders, miracles, anointed utterance, these were hallmarks of the Pentecostal FIRE in the early church Paul’s testimony was so convincing that when a prisoner, the guards were changed every four hours to prevent him from converting them. As he once breathed out threatenings before his conversion, he now breathed out the FIRE of the hot breath of the Holy Ghost that filled him.

 

OUR MISSION – OUR MESSAGE

 

• We have a message for the whole world. Acts 2:3 8; John 3:5; John 3:16
• We have an experience to share with the world.
• We have been commissioned, given a task to evangelize, baptize, and teach the world.

 

The Church is to teach all the things that Jesus taught in the Gospels, but the force and power to make this possible is a baptism of the Holy Ghost and FIRE! The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the departed Jesus. John 14:26 states, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

 

The same Spirit that was in Jesus is in us. John 14:20: “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” The FIRE is the power to witness and the power to affect those with whom we come in contact even as Christ men and women during His earthly ministry. Filled with His Spirit we have the power of the Comforter of John 14:16. We continue through the Holy Ghost to follow His example and do exactly as Jesus did on earth according to Acts We are the anointed ones!

 

The first thing Jesus did immediately after He was resurrected from the dead and reunited with His followers, was to pass on to them that same power by which He lived, shed, and broke the bands of His own human limitations Luke 20:22-23). When Christ commissioned His followers to evangelize the world (Matthew 28:19, Mark 16), and to lay hands on the sick and heal them, to cast out demons and to raise the dead, He fully intended that they would be properly equipped to accomplish such a task. Likewise, He knew that in their human abilities it was utterly impossible to achieve such at objective.

 

The command to evangelize the world was given 2,000 years ago. The population of the world was much smaller than today. When we look at the world of more than 6 billion people we are tempted to equate our limitations with the command of Christ to the church and ask, “How shall this be?”

 

To achieve these objectives many in this modern day have minister to create man-made ways and means to do so. However, Jesus fully intended that the evangelization of the church was to be done in the might and power of the Holy Ghost and FIRE!

 

THE NEED FOR THE FIRE

 

After the ascension of Christ, the Holy Ghost continued to minister through His believers the same way Christ ministered on earth. In the past century a great deal of focus and emphasis

placed on the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and speaking with tongues according to Acts 2. We have witnessed this in great proportions throughout the world to the point that the religious leaders and theologians have been forced to acknowledge its origin and outpouring as a scripturally authentic phenomenon. However, little is said about the FIRE baptism.

 

The FIRE is absolutely necessary in order for the believers to spread the message! Even though conditions are prepared, the harvest is ripe and the message is true, there must also be laborers who are on FIRE with fiery passion. Hopefully, this book will help us to understand that the Baptism of FIRE is necessary in all that we do. It is the passion by which we function. It is the excitement by which we live. It is the zeal that drives us. Baptism of FIRE will not allow the things of God’s kingdom to become common or mundane.

 

Jesus was fully aware that His disciples would need the baptism of the Holy Ghost and FIRE to obey Mark 16:15-19, which declares: “And he [Jesus] said unto them, go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven.”

 

Before these things happened, the believers first received the baptism of FIRE as recorded in Acts the second chapter.

 

FIRE BROUGHT GROWTH

 

What followed the tongues of FIRE in Acts 2? All the dynamic actions of the disciples and Apostles that are recorded in the Book of Acts!

 

The FIRE spread and brought growth. Over half of the New Testament is given to explaining the origins and growth of the Christian Church. This is found in the Gospels and the Book of Acts. The other half of the New Testament, the Epistles, deals with the nurture of the Christians, while the Book of Revelation comprises about six percent. The four Gospels record the birth and beginning ministry of Jesus Christ. Jesus began His earthly ministry around A.D. 27. He chose 12 men to be His close disciples, but there were many other men and women who chose to follow Jesus. His ministry was one of growth. It began with one, then grew to 13. At one point Jesus sent out 70 disciples to minister and proclaim His gospel. “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, wither he himself would come” (Luke 10:1). Although 4thoughultitude of over 5,000 people, when the time finally came for his disciples to tarry in the upper room, there were 120. I Corinthians 15:6 states that 500 believers the risen Christ at once. Add 500 and 120 and that makes 620. This is a growth from one to 620 in a three-year period.

 

The Gospels are the foundation for revival. The Book of Acts follows the Gospels to demonstrate how the new Christians built on the solid foundation laid by Jesus after His ascension into the heavens. It is still the foundation for Church growth throughout the world.

 

THE BEGINNING

 

The Book of Acts begins, “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach” (Acts 1:1). Luke is asserting that the work of the Church was and is to be a continuation of all Jesus’ ministry. The text declares that the deeds (what Jesus began to do) are as essential to the mission of the Church as the training (what Jesus began to teach).

 

The ministry of Jesus was a combination of preaching, teaching, working of miracles, and healing. Matthew 4:23-25 indicates this: “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in synagogues reaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people . . . and those who were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.”

 

The Book of Acts defines the ministry of the Church as continuing what Jesus did on earth and what He stated would happen after He left: “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also: and greater works than these shall he do: because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).

 

THE FIRE SPREADS

 

The passion of Holy Ghost FIRE is a flame that touches all it comes in contact with and as a result there is fervent desire within the heart of the one that is touched by the FIRE. The FIRE of the early Church leaped from person to person, city to city, and country to country until there was great growth as seen in the following instances:

 

• The original 120 received the Holy Ghost and FIRE (Acts 1:15).
• 3,000 were baptized and added to the Church in one day (Acts 2:41).
• People were added to the church daily (Acts 2:47).
• 5,000 more were added (Acts 4:4).
• Multitudes of men and women were added (Acts 5:14).
• Disciples were multiplied (thousands and thousands) (Acts 6:1).
• Religious leaders were added (Acts 6:7).
• Both men and women were baptized in the Samaritan revival under Philip (Acts 8:12).
• An Ethiopian was baptized (Acts 8:38).
• Entire towns turned to the Lord (Acts 9:35).
• A great number of Gentiles turned unto the Lord (Acts 11:21).
• A Roman deputy became a believer (Acts 13:12).
• Great multitudes of Jews and Greeks believed (Acts 14:1).
• Churches established and increased in number daily (Acts 16:5).
• Many Berean noblemen believed and also prominent Greek women (Acts 17:10-12).
• Crispus, chief ruler of the synagogue, and his household believed, as well as many of the Corinthians, and were baptized (Acts 18:8).
• Twelve men received the Holy Ghost (Acts 19:1-7).
• Many Jews and Greeks believed (Acts 20:18).

 

The growth of the early Church came as a result of something that happened that was unusual to what the people were used to seeing and experiencing. It was power, FIRE, and the supernatural as shown below:

 

1. On the Day of Pentecost, 3,000 were affected through hearing the Galileans speaking in tongues. “And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” ‘Acts 2:7-8).

 

2. 5.000 were added as a result of the healing of the man who was lame from birth and then Peter preaching to them about Jesus. “Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand” (Acts 4:4).

 

3. When Ananias and Sapphira lied to Peter and they fell down dead, great fear came upon all the church and many other people that heard about it. “And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people . . And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women. Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them” (Acts 5:14-15).

 

4. When Philip preached to the city of Samaria, there was great revival. Unclean spirits came out of many that were possessed with demons. The lame were healed and many great miracles occurred. “Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done” (Acts 8:13).

 

5. When Peter raised Dorcas from the dead in Joppa, many believers were added to the Church. “And it came to pass in those days, that she [Dorcas] was sick, and died . . . But Peter . . . kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord” (Acts 9:37, 40, 42).

 

6. God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul. From his body were brought unto the sick, handkerchiefs or cloths, and diseases and evil spirits went from the people who wore the pieces of cloth. Then seven sons of Sceva tried to cast out demons like Paul and the demons said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” (Acts 19:15). The evil spirit leaped out of the man onto the seven men and they fled out of the house naked and wounded. “And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And man that believed came, and confessed, and chew their deeds . . . So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed” (Acts 17, 20).

 

7. When Sergius Paulus, the deputy of Paphos, witnessed Paul’s authority over his chief sorcerer and caused him to be blind, the deputy governor was astonished and believed. “Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord” (Acts 13:12).

 

The doctrine of the Lord was confirmed with signs and -1-ponders. Every instance listed above happened as a result of people who either “saw or heard” something unusual. They knew that it was not the power of men, but of God. The signs md wonders by themselves were not enough. These signs mere followed or accompanied by Holy Ghost and FIRE preaching. Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of C7m-ist: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone

believeth” (Romans 1:16).

 

THE FIRE TODAY

 

There are evil forces at work today that would try to 4 moralize the Church, but they were also at work in the time of the early Church. Idolatry and Satanism were both at Ephesus. At Philippi, demonic principalities were in control. Mars Hill intellectualism was the cry of the day. In all three ass, the baptism of the Holy Ghost and FIRE devoured and overthrew Satan’s kingdom and triumphed against the evil stronholds.

 

Just as signs, wonders, and miracles shook cities in the of the early Church, the same can happen in the Muslim world, East Europe, third world countries or anywhere Christ is reached with FIRE and power!

 

Rev. Jack Hayeford, a well-known author, described it the following way: “A Spirit-filled ministry is one characterized by all that Jesus is, all that Jesus does, and all that Jesus wants Spirit-filled ministry is Christ-filled ministry, when Christ, the Anointed King, is manifest in and through us by the anointing of the Holy Spirit.”

 

The Spirit and FIRE will do the following three things: equip, enable, and enlarge!

 

1. The Spirit and FIRE will equip the believer to witness with boldness and do the works of God.
2. The Spirit and FIRE will work through any type of personality enabling them to do mighty things through Christ.
3. The Spirit and FIRE will make us more like Jesus, to see through His eyes and enlarge our vision.

 

Jesus said, “You shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost and you shall receive power (Acts 1:5, 8). Jesus said the baptism is to provide us with power to witness and minister to the whole world. The only way the Church will be able to reach and affect the world that has become so godless in many areas is for the Church to have a new baptism of FIRE!

 

The Church must be filled full of this power and FIRE! For example, when Paul confronted Elymas, whose demonic control influenced the regional governor, the Bible says he was cc . . . filled with the Holy Ghost . . . ” (Acts 13:9). Under the influence of the FIRE from heaven, Paul moved forward in miracle power to subdue the works of hell and advance God’s kingdom.

 

Our doctrinal stance is no substitute for the demonstration al the Holy Spirit. Paul confirmed this in I Corinthians 2:4, 5: And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

 

There is a hunger for the FIRE of the Spirit. People are reaching for reality and power. This is the greatest day for the Church! This is evident as more and more publications are demonstrating the deep hunger for the things of the Spirit.

 

The 1998 December issue of Life Magazine depicts on its cover in large letters: GOD. Pages 68-69 shows one large picture of believers with their hands raised in praise and worship to God. In the upper right hand corner of page 69 these words appear:

 

PENTECOSTALS at a mass baptism staged by the United House of Prayer for All People Church in Charlotte, N.C., leaders spray worshippers and welcome them to the family of Pentecostals-130 million strong, nearly 12 million of them in the United States. The Pentecostal movement, which originated in the U.S. and emphasizes the Holy Spirit’s descent upon Christ’s apostles, is the surpassing phenomenon of 20th century American religion. “Fundamentalists feel the world changing so fast and so drastically under their feet and want to pin the ground down,” says minister and author Forrest Church. “Pentecostals sense the movement under their feet and want to reach for the sky.”

 

BEYOND THESE WALLS

 

In the early Church, Jesus wanted His followers to go beyond the walls of Jerusalem. Today, He wants His Church go beyond the walls of church buildings. That can only become a reality when the Church is baptized with FIRE!

 

I have witnessed the Baptism of FIRE on numbers c occasions in the life of new believers and those who remain true to God. The FIRE portion of the Holy Ghost experience is often short-lived in many people, but while it is with them the FIRE is a powerful driving force to witness with a compelling message to everyone they contact.

 

It is important to keep the freshness of the Holy Ghost experience alive, for with it comes the FIRE. In Revelation 2, the message to the Ephesus church was, “You had it, but you lost it.” Certainly some of the churches of North America have replaced the FIRE Baptism with other fires of passion: for 4 wealth, pleasure, education, and other things.

 

BE ALERT BEYOND THE WALLS

 

When the passion for the lost takes you beyond the walls of the church building, be careful that passion and FIRE are not exchanged for something which is a substitute for the real thing. A word of caution must be expressed here concerning a passion for higher education and the dangers of such things as attaining an upper graduate level of study. The love and fervor to save the lost must not be exchanged or watered down by a love for religious education. Higher education in most cases certainly does not produce a fiery passion to win the lost and evangelize the world, or produce a passion of FIRE to pray more fervent prayers, and is of little value for some positions of ministry.

 

Higher education may be very beneficial, but in too many cases it is a fad or a passion for prestige. Look at many denominations that were at one time part of a revival movement or immersed in a fiery passion to evangelize the world.  Did their seminaries and higher educational achievements produce more FIRE in preaching, soulwinning, praying, worship, or even larger church congregations? The answer is a resounding NO! It is important that the believers of Christ proceed with caution. Are we moving in the direction that characterizes the first century Church that was driven by the Baptism of FIRE, or are we following the history of Israel who desired a king as other nations? Many men of God have warned us for years of the perils of progress and damaging effects of liberal intellectualism. Some of them have passed on and other voices have been silenced but in some cases we have alien prey to that which we were warned.

 

Higher education is not always necessarily wrong, but when the Holy Ghost and FIRE is replaced by the wisdom of man, then it becomes wrong. We must keep the FIRE of the Holy Spirit at any cost!

 

DON’T LOCK CHRIST INSIDE THE CHURCH

 

Oh, that men and women would be set aflame with apostolic revival, the fervor of the early Church and the FIRE of soul-winning.

 

Set us afire, Lord Stir us, we pray!

While the world perishes

We go our way,

Purposeless, passionless,

Day after day. Set us afire, Lord, Stir us, we pray!

-CUSHMAN

 

When the Church of Jesus Christ puts aside philosophy and modernism and gets into the business of the Church, it will the results that God’s Word has promised. Soul winning is business of the Church! That is why Christ came, so that none would perish, but all would be saved.

 

Revival FIRES are burning in many countries, and God is out His Holy Spirit in great convicting power. His people cannot be lethargic and self-absorbed so as to be ignorant to His desire. If so then who would be His instruments through which He can reach the populace with the truth? Those who refuse to be filled with the FIRE become guilty of a terrible sin—that of not winning souls.

 

“When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die: and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hands” (Ezekiel 3:18).

 

“Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some having compassion . . And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 21-23).

 

It takes a man or woman on FIRE with God’s sacrificial love and compassion to save the lost from a burning fire as the following story told by Charles Leach illustrates:

 

The Sailor’s Home, in Liverpool, was once on fire at night and a great cry of “Fire!” was raised. When the people assembled they saw in the upper stories some men crying for help. The fire escape did not nearly reach where the men were. A long ladder was brought and put against the burning building; but it was too short.

 

A British sailor in the crowd soon rushed up the ladder, balanced himself on the uppermost round with his foot, and seized the window-sill with his hands, and shouted: “Quick men, scramble over my body, on the ladder, and down you go.” One by one the men came down until all were saved, and then the sailor came down, his face burnt, his hair singed, and his fingers blistered; but he had saved the men. That ladder went a long way; but before the men could be saved it needed the length of a man.

 

If we have found “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” are not guilty of committing sin if we offer no help to others s: in sin? “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and t:h it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).

 

The Way, the Truth and the Life hung on an old rugged cross. It is not meant for the cross to be worn around our necks – gazed at in a picture, but it is to be talked about in the streets, on the jobs, and in the marketplaces. The following is the cry of the cross:

 

“I simply argue that the cross must be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Christ was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbageheap; at a cross-road so cosmopolitan that they had to write His title in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek . . . at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble because that is where he died. And that is what he died about. And that is where churchmen should be and what churchmanship should be about.”

-GEORGE MAC LEOD

 

SHINE THE LIGHT

 

It is imperative to let the light or the FIRE that was given to you shine brightly wherever you go. “No man, when he hath a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light” (Luke 1 1 : 3 3).

 

Our light must not be put “under a bushel.” Jesus said,”Ye are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Lights are made to shine forth and show the way, not to be hidden.

 

Jesus testified of John in John 5:35: “He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice his light.”

 

The Old Testament describes the burning of the FIRE that must never go out: “Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually” (Leviticus 24:24). The oil was so the FIRE would not go out of the lamp, so there would always be a light.

 

This talk of “continual burning” resonates in the New Testament in the Lord’s story of the 10 virgins. He likened the kingdom of heaven to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were wise in the fact that they kept oil in their lamp. Five were foolish because they let their oil run out, which caused the burning to stop. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out” (Matthew 25:8).

 

Jesus commanded, “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning” (Luke 12:35). In other words, “Be prepared at all times and keep the FIRE burning.”

 

The five foolish virgins let their FIRE go out. It caused them to miss going away with the bridegroom. When he came they were gone to buy oil, and when they finally arrived back, they knocked on the door to where the bridegroom was and asked to be let inside. He told them that He did not even know them. They were recognizable to Him by how much FIRE they were able to generate in their lamps.

 

The Church is the light to the world. It must burn continually with the FIRE of soul-winning pointing souls to and saving them from the FIRE of damnation. Jude 22-23 described this awful fire: “And of some have compassion, a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” It is the command of the Lord to save souls from the fire that will consume those who do not have the FIRE of God within them.

 

God’s children are the “matches” that light FIRES around world. Just as matches must be made, so must each individual that makes up the Church. In the natural what civilization do without matches? Few realize the immense labor, capital, and material used to produce this tiny article of commerce. Thousands of men are employed, millions of dollars invested, and vast forests cut down to meet demand in America of 700,000,000,000 matches a year. One plant alone on the Pacific coast covers 240 acres and uses 200,000 feet of sugar pine and yellow pine logs in a day. The odds will not do. A constant search is in progress for large forests of perfect trees to meet the future need.

 

Neither can God use just anybody. He is constantly looking for someone who can be instrumental in lighting FIRES in darkened corners or where there is no light. In order for his to become “matches,” God gave His best. It was Jesus died on a cross so that we might become His lights. He in Matthew 5:14, “Ye are the light of the world.” Oh, a price He paid for us to be the light. We must not let Him down!

 

FIRE OF EVANGELISM

 

The FIRE of evangelism burned hotly within the heart of when he heard Jesus speak and teach. He ran and testified to his brother Peter. Andrew brought Peter to Jesus, and that is one of the few things we hear of Andrew. However, if there were more Andrews, there would be more Simon Peters.

 

A burning heart is catching. This was demonstrated by a conversation between two men. A Christian man spoke to his neighbor, but he did more than speak. He pled with shining face and yearning eyes, and his fiery heart was in it. It is not enough to ask someone to come to Church; we must inspire them to come by reflecting the fire of Christ within.

 

Soul winning helps a person forget his own problems. One writer wrote, “When I dig a man out of trouble, I turn the hole he leaves behind him into a grave in which I bury my own trouble.”

“The fruit of the righteousness is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30).

 

“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).

 

It does not matter who you are or where you come from, any one can be a dynamo of evangelism when the FIRE is burning within them. Do not just sit down and die, but rise up and tell somebody about Jesus! Pass out tracts, teach a Bible Study, share your testimony to the hungry, but do something! The following story demonstrates how one person with a hot heart can affect other people for Jesus:

 

“A poor uncultured and untaught Kaffir woman on hearing of the love of Jesus gladly received the truth, and as the Holy Spirit took up His abode in her heart, she felt the yearning to go out to the thousands of her people lying in sin and darkness all about her. She had no education, no command of language to impart the blessed truth that had come into her life, no way of travel, and no money to assist her; but she took the little Gospel leaflet or tract that had been given to her by the traveling missionary and started out on foot to spread the gospel light. She would enter a village, go directly to the chief, and silently hand him the tract written in his own dialect. He would read it, then looking at her full in the eye, demand to know about this Jesus. She would then tell in simple words of what had taken place in her heart. Other leaders would be called, the paper read and re-read, more questions asked, and the power of God would take hold of the people. She simply waited for God to work. She had no thought, nor concern about her own efforts. Her confidence was in the power that had taken hold of her darkened heart and transformed it. When she saw the tears falling, heard the cries of joy about her, she knew the light had come. She would then take her tract and finally steal away into another village. This was repeated again and again until the light broke into all the country for miles about and many tribes and people were brought to Christ.”

 

FERVENT IN SPIRIT

 

Acts 18:25 demonstrates what happens when a heart is .vent toward the things of God: “This man was instructed in thy way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord.” Notice he spoke and taught the things of God.

 

To be a good soul-winner, one must be fervent in spirit as instructed in Romans 12:11: “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” Service to the Lord requires a fervent, hot dedication on the part of the believer.

 

The woman with the alabaster box of very precious ointment went to where Jesus was dining. There she poured die contents upon him. “There came unto him a woman having in alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his ileac: as he sat at meat” (Matthew 26:7). Her love and thankfulness to Jesus for setting her free was demonstrated by pouring out her best to Him. We must be poured out for Jesus. As the Lord pours into each of our lives, we must pour back into the lives of others.

 

The above article, “Fire of Soul-Winning” is written by Kenneth F. Haney. The article was excerpted from the fourth chapter Haney’s book, Fire of Baptism.

 

The material is most likely copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personals study or research purposes.

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