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By: Pastor Peter Schlicht

All the believers were together in one place. 120 people were gathered in Jerusalem. These were the first Christians, and they were right where Jesus told them to be: waiting. Waiting for the Holy Spirit to come as the risen Savior had promised. They weren’t disappointed. There was like a rush of wind and what looked like flames of fire separated into smaller flames and fanned out until one flickered over each of them. Sons and daughters, men and women, Apostles and average-joe-Christians, began speaking the word about Jesus Christ. 3,000 people were baptized that day. Not long after this they fanned out further; village to village, street to street, and neighbor to neighbor. Like a brush fire driven by a mighty wind, the Gospel spread from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to Antioch to Ephesus and onto Rome, all within thirty years. And it hasn’t stopped spreading. Today over two billion people worship Christ.

Nothing has changed since the first Pentecost: The Holy Spirit still uses the Word of the Gospel about Jesus Christ to ignite faith in the human heart. The person whose heart has been so affected–makes no difference who they are as the prophet Joel predicted: sons, daughters, young, old, men or women–shares the same message of the Gospel to someone else and the Holy Spirit ignites faith in their heart and they, in turn, pass it on again.

The reason people in our community don’t go to church is not because there aren’t enough churches, or enough Christians running around Madison. The reason they don’t go to church is because they don’t know Jesus Christ as their Savior; the Holy Spirit hasn’t yet kindled the flame of faith in their heart. So in order to reach them, you don’t need a more beautiful church building; you don’t need a rock band or an organist from Julliard; you don’t need more service times; you don’t need a pretty pastor who can sing and dance; you don’t need the perfect youth ministry or a thriving grade school. What you need are people burning with Spirit-wrought love for Christ and a passion for the lost. What you need are people who ignite others for Christ. And the only ones who can do that are those that already burn themselves.

Do you burn? Or is the flame of your faith flickering a bit? Here’s a sobering little test to check the condition of your faith. Look at how you have influenced the faith of the people in your life. Is your spouse stronger in the faith than he or she was a year ago through your marriage? Are your children growing in faith or apathy under your instruction? Are your friends having spiritual conversations with you or does it never come up? Take a moment today and think about how many people you know who need Jesus. Really, stop and picture their faces. Are you praying for them? Are you asking God for opportunities to spread his love to them through you? Or has your faith had no discernible effect on anyone?

If you are not lighting anyone else on fire, maybe your own faith needs to be stoked first. Maybe you need some more fuel on the fire. “Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). I invite you to faithfully hear the Word and receive the Sacrament at Eastside. But I also think this is about more than just Sunday. Think about taking a midweek Bible class, restart that devotional habit you lost track of a while ago, pull out your Bible and grab coffee with a friend. Remember, a fire cannot help but warm up a room. If you are burning with the Holy Spirit, your faith will raise the spiritual temperature of those around you.

This September, pick out someone you’d like to burn. That may sound sadistic but, in this context, I encourage it. I can’t think of a better way to stoke a well-fed flame of faith than to intentionally identify someone in your life whom you’d like nothing more than to set on fire for Jesus. Choose just one person: a friend, a co-worker, a boss, a cousin, a workout-buddy, whoever. Pray for them and for the opportunity to talk about their faith. Let your flame burn and the Holy Spirit will give you the words to speak. Nothing fancy, nothing prepared, just a plain honest witness to God’s love will be the fodder that the Spirit ignites.

We also have a lot of things going on at Eastside this fall that will make for great invitations. If that someone you choose is interested in what the Bible says, then please check out our upcoming Bible Studies right here. Ok, so perhaps they aren’t ready for a full-blown Bible Immersion Group, but they may be interested in helping with the Canvas Food Drive, or coming to the Arts and Craft Fair, attending Power Hour with their little one, or cheering for Eastside in a soccer or volleyball game at our grade school. Whatever opportunity God provides, take it. May the Spirit bless your intentional burning, and I pray for a very hot September!