Date:      16th December 2007                                                              (Sunday AM)                                                                       Ref: A0350

Place:     Kambah P.S.

Title: Spiritual Thermostat

Text:        & Revelation 3:14-22

Illust:     First invented in 1885, the thermostat is that part of a heating or cooling system that controls the temperature. You set the temperature and the thermostat controls the heater to keep the room / device at that temperature. – Want to look this AM at our Spiritual Thermostat  - Jesus makes it clear that you have a spiritual temperature

I.                   Spiritual Temperature

A.               Cold

i.                 Most Australians operate on the cold spiritual temperature. Things of God, spiritual things are of no importance; their god is their job/ house/ sport / recreation / friends / family.

ii.               They are working hard to build up a prosperous life in this world with absolutely no concern about the life to come. – Giving no thought to the morrow of eternity.

iii.             I trust & pray that is nobody here this morning

B.               Lukewarm

i.                 Ambient room temperature – same temperature as your surroundings, no noticeable difference, no impact.

ii.               Come to church on Sunday, praise the lord, sing the songs, - Monday to Saturday your passion is for your job/ house/ sport / recreation / friends / family – Not wrong things in themselves, it is a question of your passion!!

iii.             CT Studd was an English cricketer who played in the original Test against Australia where the Ashes were first named and was one of the last two batsman in. – He gave up his cricket career to become a missionary & laboured in China, India & Africa. – He wrote:

      "...I do not say, Don't play games or cricket and so forth. By all means play and enjoy them, giving thanks to Jesus for them. Only take care that games do not become an idol to you as they did to me. What good will it do to anybody in the next world to have been the best player that ever has been? And then think of the difference between that and winning souls for Jesus."

C.               Hot

i.                 Then there is those whose spiritual temperature is running hot, their consuming passion is for Jesus & His will for their lives

      "I have but one passion: It is He, it is He alone. -- Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf

ii.               Here is a man whose passion was for the challenge, the call, the destiny, the service of Jesus. A man who had impact, started one of the earliest Protestant missionary movements. – A heart for the lost.

iii.             This is really what Jesus desires of you & I – that we would be zealous for Him. ~ I could wish you were cold or hot. ~ Spiritually cold people are at least honest, no interest, no desire, not pretending to be someone they are not.  – His desire is for you & I to be Hot!

II.                 Thermostat

A.               In Your Control

i.                 Truth this AM, is that just like the thermostat controls the temperature of your airconditioner / heater, and you can set it to the desired temperature, so to you have the ability to set your spiritual thermostat. – It is in your control.

ii.               You determine your spiritual operating temperature, you set it to a nice comfortable safe & happy room temperature or you turn it down to cold, or you spin the dial right round to ‘Very Hot’

         2 Timothy 1:6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

B.               What Setting

i.                 So the question this AM, is where is your thermostat set, what temperature setting do you have it on? ~ Are icicles forming around the dial it’s set that cold. Your breath mists in the air. – backslidden

ii.               Or is it set on that nice ambient room temperature of lukewarm, somewhere between 18°C & 22°C ~ not offensive to anyone, no impact on anyone, just nice. – Hot on Sunday cold the rest of the week, keeps you at just that nice temperature of lukewarm

iii.             Only one problem with that is that Jesus not very happy: & v.16-17

III.              Crank It Up

A.               Passion of Christ

i.                 As followers of Christ we need to follow His example. How did Jesus live? – Full on – pedal to the metal. – A life of passion & zeal.

         John 2:15-17 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” (NKJV)

ii.               The ultimate expression of His zeal for the lost is the crucifixion. Mel Gibson’s movie title “Passion of the Christ” – It was His passion; ~ His heart beat with zeal & passion for the lost so much so that He was obedient to death.

         Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (NKJV)

iii.             Our God does everything with a zeal & passion that would probably surprise us. – How much more then should we follow His example.

      "God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose." -- John Piper

B.               Time to Crank it up

i.                 Time for you & I to crank up the thermostat.  & v.19 ~ zealous: to be heated, to boil, strive. Not just a little bit, grab the dial & turn it round to the “on fire” setting; John Wesley was a man on fire & he had world changing impact. – He challenges you & I

      “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.”

ii.               Needs to be a conscious decision on your part to crank up the thermostat, increase your operating temperature, begin to contend for more power, more passion, more faith, more fruit, more demonstration of the Spirit & power – More fire. – Like Jeremiah

         Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not. (NKJV)

iii.             You too can have impact, set a fire burning in your heart & that fire will spread to others around you. – You will have impact in your family / city / nation & the world.

      "'Not called!' did you say?
'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.
Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. -- William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

IV.             Altar Call