Keep the Fire Burning!

Intro

First, let me say it is an absolute blessing to be back in this pulpit. The last sermon I preached here was during the evening service on January 5, 2020 right after Bro. Eddie Young preached.

I have many many memories from my time here and I am extremely grateful for those memories, the training I received here, and for the opportunity to return for the 40th anniversary of the Lord’s work on this hill!

For those who do not know me, my name is Matthew Stone, I am the pastor of Genesis FWB in Kingsport and am the Assistant Advancement Director at Harvest FWB Child Care Ministries in Duffield, VA. From May 2019-January 2020 I was the pastoral intern right here at Peace!

Being a co-vocational pastor, I have a great, but busy, schedule. Monday-Thursday I work in our office in Duffield and every Friday I am blessed to be able to work in my office at the church. I also live in the parsonage on property so it is a great commute on Fridays!

One thing I like to do on Fridays since I work near the house is smoke meat, now I just started this hobby, but one thing I like best about it is the fire box! You have to build a fire, keep it kindled, and make sure your temperature stays right where it needs to be.

This is an art that I have not quite perfected, but one I enjoy!

Our parsonage also has a fireplace and this time of year I love building a good fire in it on a chilly evening or Saturday!

One thing that I have learned through both of these processes is just how delicate a fire can be. One wrong move, one piece of wood that is too wet, a moment of impatience, and it dies.

Another thing I have learned is that it is much easier to keep a fire going to that to have to restart it once it dies!

I think Church ministry is very similar to building a fire. It take time, patience, wisdom, and persistence to keep a church alive. More than this, it takes God’s time, God’s patience, God’s wisdom, and strength form God to persist.

And, just like a fire, we must remember a few things in keeping that fire burning.

We have to remember how the fire was started, learn from those wet pieces of wood — the mistakes as we work toward successes, and simply … keep adding wood!

When fleshing out this thought in research, this passage came to the forefront. Read with me Leviticus 6:12–13 “And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.”

Before we go any deeper, understand with me the context of Leviticus 6. In this chapter, the Israelites are getting explicit instruction from God for the sacrificial system. In this section of the chapter, the Lord is instructing priests on how to handle burnt offerings.

I know that this is an Old Testament passage and, feel what you may about the Old Testament, but it is rich with instruction and principle, and we find both in this passage this morning.

This morning, as we look at 40 years of ministry at the Blue Church, I want to encourage you Church, Pastors, to follow the footsteps of our spiritual forefathers and keep the fire burning!

Remember How the Fire Was Started

Keeping the fire burning isn’t just about throwing a bunch of wood on it and hoping for the best, no. Keeping the fire burning is more complex than this.

Keeping the fire burning must take you back to the start of the fire!

When I use my smoker, there is a process, one I enjoy. I have a small charcoal chimney that I fill with my favorite charcoal, I set a fire starter underneath it and let those coals get screaming hot! I then dump then in the fire box and then add my small pieces of wood and maybe even some flavored wood.

In order to keep that fire burning, I have to remember how I started it. And, once I remember the beginnings, then I can focus on what I can do to keep it going.

The Israelites, long before the instructions in Leviticus, would have remembered when the fire started.

In Leviticus, Moses is still alive and well and following God as he leads the Israelites. He would understand God’s specific relationship with fire.

Exodus 3:1–3 “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”

Moses, before he led the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt, encountered God as a Fire burning a bush but not consuming it.

So, as Moses received the instructions about burnt offerings and keeping the fire burning on the altar, he knew what this meant. He knew that this was not just about sacrifice, but about God’s call for His people to remember where they started. For Moses, at this time, to remember where God brought Him from.

Peace Church, you have a similar story. In 1985 under the direction of Pastor Howard Munsey, Peace FWB Church started in a boot store and then moved to Cumberland Avenue right here in Morristown. Two years later, this beautiful church was built. (with the cheapest paint that Pastor Munsey could buy and pink carpet, ask Chris about that!). In 1990, Chris Dotson joined the staff and was elected pastor in 1994. In 2015, Pastor Bill Houk joined the team. And, in 2020 Pastor Sonny Thomas became the pastor to lead this church into the next phase of ministry.

Just like Moses, there was a beginning, one that some of you can remember, and if you cant, it is one you can love and cherish all the same.

This church was started to reach the lost souls of this growing town. The team of leaders has changed over the years, just like the Israelites, but church, let me challenge you today, keep the mission. Stay the course. Keep the fire that Howard Munsey started burning and burning strong.

Continue to reach your community, it is growing, and it is lost.

Day and night, keep the fire burning on this hill.

The Blue Church wasn’t started just so that it could die. It was started so that the lost might be found in Christ. This is your mission. This has to be your passion. Remember now your fire began, and as you do, learn from your mistakes as you work toward successes.

Learn from Mistakes, Work for Successes

Over the last 40 years, you can ask any of the pastor’s names I mentioned a moment ago, you will hear of time and time again when failure occurred.

But, the doors are still open.

I remember when I was voted in as Pastor of Genesis. It was August 31, 2022. The churches first big event after that was our annual trunk or treat. This event can bring upwards of 500 people to the church.

I was intimidated, but determined that it would be excellent!

So, we bought food, chips, drinks, candy, gospel tracts, you name it. We had people participating that never had before. I set the tables up, assigned the tables, and began making assignments. “Hello, yes this is Pastor Matthew. Would you care to pass this out at your table?” “Hello, yes this is your pastor speaking, would you care to have your table beside so-and-so and pass this out?” So on and so forth.

I wanted full control, I thought that was what a pastor was supposed to do!

Until a long time member called me… we talked for 45 minutes about how I was making members feel.

I had forgotten that the church had gone on without pastors in the past for extended periods of time and most of the jobs in the church had been delegated. I was overstepping people who had hosted this event successfully for decades. I was thinking about me when I should have been thinking about my flock.

I was younger, less experienced, and I learned from my mistake, even though I was working toward a success!

Fire is the same way.

When I first started building fires, I thought you just threw some wood down and a match and BAM … fire!

Wrong..

Fire is delicate as I said earlier, and so you have to be delicate with it. You can’t add wet wood early on. You have to know what size pieces to start with. You have to know how to even get a flame!

The Israelites knew this too.

In Leviticus 6, they are tending to a fire, one that has to be continually burning.

Prior to this though, they all encountered God in a way that they would never forget. A way that would teach them about their mistakes as they followed God’s plan for success.

Exodus 13:21 “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:”

Prior to this, the Israelites spent 400 years in slavery in Egypt. They had escaped, or they were actively escaping, when God appeared to them all in a way that 1) frightened their enemies and 2) showed them the way.

As they saw God as a pillar of fire and cloud, they would have been reminded of how carefully God protected them, even though they made mistake after mistake.

Through all of their rebellion, pride, and murmuring, God revealed Himself to them and restored them.

So, when the Lord instructed them to keep the fire on the altar burning day in and day out, the Israelites, especially the priests, would have been reminded of all their mistakes as well as those of their ancestors, and they would have been encouraged to work toward successes.

Local church ministry is filled with mistakes and successes.

Don’t abandon ship just because a member made a mistake and hurt your feelings. Can I be so bold as to say, don’t abandon ship just because a pastor or deacon made a mistake and hurt your feelings. You are letting the fire die.

Rather, view the local church as the continual fire on the altar which points to Christ and His forgiveness. Be reminded of what Christ has done. Forgive mistakes. Work toward successes together. Tend to the fire, and when the wood is a little wet or the flame not quite big enough, forgive the one who placed the wet wood, find them some good dry wood, and help them tend to the fire.

Finally, Peace Church, you cannot stop adding wood.

Keep Adding Wood!

Leviticus 6:12–13 “And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.”

The Israelite priests were commanded here to keep the fire burning, every morning wood should be added. It shall never go out.

As we have discussed, the fire served as a constant reminder of God. It reminded them of what God had done and what He promised He would continue to do.

In the New Covenant, the Church exists with a similar purpose. I don’t mean this building, I mean you!

You go out and remind people of what Jesus has done for you and what He can do for them. Live out the hope of the promise of Heaven.

Keep adding wood to the fire. Keep the fire burning. Keep the church alive by the help and grace of the Holy Spirit.

Learn to love the Word of God. Be a people of prayer. Be a people of evangelism. Keep adding wood to the fire.

Church, this building and service time cannot be the only time and place where you add wood. Take the fire into the streets, take the passion of Jesus Christ to those who need it.

Keep adding wood.

Keep fueling the flame of passion and desire after Jesus and keep that fire burning!

Moses and the Israelites kept on seeing this Fire in the wilderness, to the point of Moses trecking up Mt. Sianai to retrieve the 10 commandments from God. Exodus 19:18 “And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.”

Moses remembered the fire in the bush. Learned from the pillar of fire. And, the Lord kept the fire burning through Him as He gave them the first 10 commandments, the Law of God, on that fiery mountain. The fire continued.

That fire began here in Morristown in 1985 with Howard Munsey. That fire has been kept alive by God’s grace through faithful servants of God ever since. And, although there is only one member in this church that remembers directly that first spark in 1985, each of you now have the responsibility to keep that flame burning.

God has called you to this church on this hill in this community for a reason. You have the power of God to spread the good news, to fan the flame, to keep the fire burning.

So, do just that! Keep adding wood. Keep your desires set on Him. Keep the passion for Jesus that He gave you. And, spread the Flame of the Gospel to a lost and dying community.

The priests were tasked with the responsibility to keep the fire of the altar burning for sacrifice.

Each of you, as born again co-heirs and priests have been charged with the responsibility to Matthew 28:19–20 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Church, 40 years is a milestone, a great one! Will you keep the fire burning for another 40? Will you take the charge of a priest, a herald of the gospel, devote yourself to God, remembering how the fire was started all those years ago like the Israelites, learn from your mistakes as you work toward successes, and will you add more wood to the fire so that Morristown can see the great flame of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

See the original fire, Jesus Christ, as your guide in this wilderness. See Him speak to you through His Word and Prayer. See that you take the responsibility seriously to keep the flame alive, the fire burning. You have been tasked by God, not me, to take the Gospel and deliver it from this hill to the masses.

Keep the fire burning, Peace Church.

SONG

Conclusion

Before I turn the service back over to Pastor Sonny, I want to give you just a moment to respond.

Maybe this morning you feel conviction from the Holy Spirit, would you respond by coming and praying?

Whatever it may be. Maybe you haven’t been keeping the fire burning. Maybe you thought that just your pastors and deacons were the ones supposed to be fanning the flame. Would you come repent as the Lord directs and commit to God that, as a priest in His kingdom, you will take Leviticus 6 to heart and you will keep the fire burning?

Maybe this morning you have never even accepted the beautiful forgiveness of Jesus Christ, would you come pray?

*salvation plea*

Church, this is serious business to which you are called. Will you take the flame of the Gospel, remember where it came from, learn learn learn learn, and keep that fire burning?