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In our text, we find the timeless words of Jesus telling His disciples the signs that would be the evidence that they were living in the last days. What we just read sounds like a newspaper clip from any normal day. Wars, rumors of wars, different religions springing up claiming to have a Messiah, nations against nations, famines, pestilences, and many earthquakes. These would all be the signs of the end times. In a time when the majority of the world still does not have enough to eat, such epidemics as SARS are sweeping the world, and the reports of conflict and wars are an everyday occurrence, there can be no doubt that we live in the time that Jesus prophesied about. Verse 9 has especially come true as Israel has become the most hated country in the world. As to whether or not false prophets have arisen and are deceiving many or not, one only has to flip on the "christian" channel and listen to the many voices out there that are compromising the uncompromising message of the Apostolic Church into a "blab it and grab it" prosperity gospel.

But in the middle of this portrait of modern times, Jesus makes a statement that should grab our attention and make us realize the importance of being on guard against the trap of Satan. He said that:

That is, because of the rampant sin, the love of many shall grow cold! But it will be the person that endures; literally, that "remains," who shall be saved. Remains what? RED HOT ON FIRE FOR GOD!

You cannot go too far within the scriptures before you realize that the Holy Ghost is always presented as fire and heat. Our other text said that our God is a consuming fire! When the Holy Ghost was poured out on the Day of Pentecost, the tongues sat upon them "like as of fire." Fire is the element of creation that God uses to change one thing from one form to another. When something catches fire, it's additives and impurities are consumed and it is converted into a purer form. That's why the Holy Ghost and Spirit of God is likened to fire! It takes the excess of your life and the impurities and, if you will allow it, will consume every part of you and by doing so change you into a much purer form! For years under the law of Moses, actual sacrifices were required where a person brought an offering that was placed upon the fire of the altar and was consumed by the fire of God. All of those sacrifices were to teach us about the work of the Holy Ghost in our lives! Many times a person brought a sacrifice and fire fell from heaven and completely consumed it. When we come and give our life as a living sacrifice to God at an altar and we are willing to submit all to Him, we become a living sacrifice upon which the Holy Ghost, the fire of God, falls and consumes! The true living God STILL answers with fire! James said "what a great matter a tongue kindleth." In other words your tongue can create a major heated argument. But when the fire of the Holy Ghost falls upon you, God will begin to cause you to speak in a language that you have never learned, and the tongue kindles a much greater fire!

I'm here to tell somebody that when the Holy Ghost has complete control in your life, your spiritual life is red hot! Your praise and worship crackles! Church is exciting and the people of God are your most favorite people to be around! The world is a cold place. They do not have the Holy Ghost fire to help warm them to true Godly love and living. That's why God lit a fire at Pentecost! It was meant to spread and warm the earth. It was meant to be like a warm fire on a cold night! Thank God for the Holy Ghost! Without it the world would swallow our families in it's icy grip! But the heat of the Holy Ghost can withstand the coldness of this world! It can thaw icy hearts! It can melt hardened spirits! The fire of the Holy Ghost can take people that before had no great future and turn them into blazing beacons of light to the masses! The fire of the Holy Ghost still has the power to transform lives and the world needs it like never before!

But while the true church of God began red hot, the world has grown colder. We gasp in horror at the child sacrifices in the Old Testament and yet millions of unborn babies are killed in our country every year. The world is growing colder. The majority of Americans do not frequently attend a church. The world is growing colder. Promiscuous behavior is considered normal now and for a man and woman to be virgins when they marry is extremely rare and an oddity. The world is growing colder. The divorce rate is well over 50% and when you get married today the odds are much greater that you will divorce within 10 years than for you to stay together. The world is growing colder. The Islamic faith which does not even acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God is the fastest growing religion in the world and the Catholic Pope issued a decree three years ago that because they believed in "a god" that they were saved, despite the many scriptures that proclaim that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. The world is growing colder. Pornography is much easier to get a hold of now days thanks to the Internet and priests who molest children are not usually persecuted but rather quietly ushered off to another parish. The world is growing colder. Our young people face much more blatant sin today than you did because the world is growing colder and colder! But let me focus on a scripture that can give you hope:

That is, it is the plan of God to have a red hot church in the middle of the coldest time that has ever been! If the world is the coldest, then God desires for the church to be the hottest! When sin abounds, grace will much more abound! That doesn't mean that we compromise; instead it means that we ought to be that much more on fire! The prophet Jeremiah tried not to speak and preach of God's Glory but finally he said it "is like fire shut up in my bones," and he had to open up his mouth and speak! As this world grows colder, the Word of God ought to heat us up until we cannot sit idly by! It ought to be like fire within us! When the world looks upon us they ought to easily see the difference just as a fire on a cold dark night is easy to spot! There ought to be something inside of us that causes them to want what we have! That makes them wonder how we can be so happy when the world is so cold! That draws them to us! God put that Holy Ghost fire within us! Baptize us again if need be with that Holy Ghost and fire! Let us burn bright for you in this end time! As the world waxes colder and colder let us burn brighter and brighter until everyone around us has felt the heat from your Spirit that lives within us! Somebody needs to realize that it is not the will of God for the church to just sit idly by but to be consumed with God! And He is the consuming fire!

God is looking for people who will yield themselves to Him and make a difference in a cold, cold world! I still believe that you can make it if you really want to live for God! I still believe that God can ignite a fire within you that the world cannot put out! I still believe that the Holy Ghost can transform your life until you do not even recognize yourself! The Holy Ghost is still the answer for this world! The Holy Ghost can heal marriages! It can put families back together! It can forge friendships and tear down barriers between enemies! It can put purpose in a lost soul! It can give you joy unspeakable and full of glory! I challenge you tonight: let the fire of the Holy Ghost burn up the worries in your life. Let the consuming fire of God take away the bitterness! Let the fire of the Holy Ghost spark a healing in your situation! We need to realize the colder our situation looks, then the hotter the Holy Ghost needs to be in our life! Somebody needs to look at your family, your situation, your future, or whatever and let the Holy Ghost light a fire in your life that begins to lick at the problem! The fire of the Holy Ghost is still the answer!

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The true problem is that not only is the world growing colder but many children of God are too! Jesus looked right at His disciples and said "the love of many shall wax cold, but he that ENDURE, that lasts, that remains on fire until the end shall be saved!" That tells me that there is a constant battle in every Christian's life to stay on fire for God! The devil wants to put out your fire! He doesn't care if you come and get the Holy Ghost if he can get the fire to go out! The church is really the difference and the answer, but if when people come to an Apostolic church and they don't feel anything and they don't see any difference in lifestyle and they don't experience a fire burning in someone's life, then how will they ever experience the fire of God! If you are going to be saved, our relationship with God has to go beyond a one time experience with the fire of the Holy Ghost but must be a constant effort to keep that fire burning hot!

There are three things that we are warned against committing against the Holy Ghost in scripture and all three are an analogy of fire. We grow colder by doing these things.

1. Resist the Holy Ghost

You resist the Holy Ghost when you refuse to allow it to consume you. You refuse to allow it to become the main thing in your life and you do not surrender to the power of the Spirit.

2. Quench the Holy Ghost

You quench the fire of the Holy Ghost by putting other things that are not compatible with it upon the flame. You keep doing things that the Holy Ghost is trying to keep you from doing and go against your conscience.

3. Grieve the Holy Ghost

You grieve a fire by refusing to add more fuel to it. If you do not give a fire something more to consume, then it will eventually go out. You've got to keep heaping praise and prayer and fasting and Bible reading and more of yourself upon the Holy Ghost fire in order to keep it going!

We need to view our cold circumstances as an opportunity for revival. Paul did when he was shipwrecked on the island of Melita in winter:

Paul also started a Holy Ghost fire on the island of Melita!

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There is another way to grow cold in God. Try to serve Him from a distance. {Adlib the story of Peter and how that he really did not want to give everything so he tried to follow Jesus from a distance and yet it was cold so he found himself trying to warm up at the fire of the enemy. The world tries to create fires to deal with the coldness of sin. They try to use sporting events to create excitement and passion. They use open sexuality and nudity and alcohol and drugs to try to create a fire in people's life, but it will never truly warm you up, only momentarily warm you and send you right back into the cold!}

Peter was trying to serve God from a distance. He stood over a bed of coals, the remains of a fire that had once been burning bright, and it was an analogy of what his relationship with God had become! You cannot make it serving God from a distance! You will end up denying Jesus Christ!

When a person is growing cold in God, you can always tell by the lack of commitment in their life. Because you cannot help but be warm toward the things of God when you hang around the fire! Let me ask you some questions that should help you do a temperature check in your life. How long has it been . . .

Since you and your family did a scriptural devotion together?

Since you attended all three services in one week?

Since you spoke in tongues?

Since you looked forward to a time of prayer with God?

Since you fasted without the preacher asking you to?

Since you studied or read your Bible every day in a week?

Since you told someone about how great God is and what a difference the Holy Ghost makes?

Since someone asked about your spiritual beliefs?

Since you got so lost in praise and worship that you forgot about who was standing next to you?

Since you danced before the Lord?

Since you left a service having been changed?

Since you wept before the Lord?

Since you cleaned something out of your life that you felt God was dealing with you on?

Since you changed a dream because it did not line up with the Word of God?

Since you reached out and befriended someone who needed a positive person in their life?

Since you gave sacrificially?

Since you kept praying for someone and planting the word of the Lord even when it seemed like they were rejecting you?

The scriptures say that:

Witnessing is a good sign of whether or not someone is on fire for God or not! If you are not reaping a harvest, then could it be that you are not plowing because of the cold in your life?

The world is growing colder, are you? Or are you enduring to the end!? Are you feeding the fire?

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My parents spent some time in the state of Alaska building a church in Anchorage. I have heard the stories of how cold it got there.

I will never forget the story by Jack London entitled "To Build a Fire." It told the story of a man who was new to such extreme winters. He was warned about the cold but did not heed the warning. He wandered out in 50 degree below weather without adequate preparations. He tried to build a fire three times but finally gave in to the hypothermia and the heaviness of sleep that caused him to die.

The effects of hypothermia in the natural exactly mirror that of spiritual hypothermia:

1. loss of feeling.

2. loss of movement and energy.

3. Loss of coherency and the ability to accurately realize your situation.

4. The drifting away into a sleep of death.

We cannot underestimate the coldness of this world, we need the fire of the Holy Ghost in our lives! I have noticed that people do not sit upon pews for years in a backslidden state. Today the process is much faster. Why? The world is colder! You cannot make it very long without exposure of the fire of the Holy Ghost! The danger of spiritual hypothermia is great, the world is getting colder!

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Paul told Timothy that he needed to stoke up the fires of the Holy Ghost:

We need to do the same thing today! We need to be like Isaiah and get touched by a coal from the altar of God!