I want there to be Pentecost among us, dear people.
The day of Pentecost... There was Pentecost in the Old Covenant. “Pentecost” is Greek—fifty, ten, fifty days. And when the day of Pentecost came... Before the day of Pentecost, Jesus told His disciples that they had to wait in Jerusalem and receive power from above so that they could be His witnesses. And that is what happened.
On the day of Pentecost—in the second chapter of Acts—I want to read, dear people, just as I sang the song. The subtitle says, “The Coming of the Holy Spirit”:
“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound came from heaven like the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Divided tongues appeared to them, as of fire, and one rested upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Hallelujah! Amen.
Did the apostles need the fire of the Holy Spirit or not, dear people? Jesus did not send the apostles into the Gentile world until He had filled them with the fire of the Holy Spirit. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and tongues of fire were given to them, so that they set the whole world ablaze with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the first century, our first king, King Abgar, who was sick with leprosy, sent a letter to Jesus. I have that letter which he wrote to Jesus, as well as Jesus’ reply to King Abgar, saying that He would send two apostles. King Abgar says, “You are either God or the Son of God to be doing these things.” But Jesus was going to be crucified. King Abgar goes with an army to settle the matter with those who would crucify Him in Jerusalem, but the Romans do not allow him. Later, Jesus says in a letter, “I cannot come because I must do the will of the One who sent Me, but I will send two apostles to the Armenian world.” And He sends two apostles, Bartholomew and Thaddeus. He sends them into the Armenian world, and the two apostles set the Armenian world ablaze. They spoke through their preaching and through the fire of the Holy Spirit, and the people and the king received it.
Dear people of God, I have gathered many verses about fire—many of them. I am reading the word from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, verse 49. These are the words of Jesus:
“I came to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”
Why did Jesus bring fire? Fire. All of us villagers know what fire is. We warm ourselves with fire, cook food with fire, and make barbecue with fire; everything happens through fire. Even an airplane flies by the power of fire. When you light a fire... For example, I was a villager, and we used to light a tonir. My father would take the sled to the forest and bring brushwood, and we would burn it all winter. When we lit it, there was also a kursi. You know what a kursi is, don’t you? We placed it over the tonir and gathered around it to warm ourselves—my brothers and my sisters. We would gather there and later sleep underneath it. When there was warmth, we gathered. In cold weather, a person needs warmth, doesn’t he, dear people? We gathered around that fire, around that warmth. When it grew cold, we would get up in the morning; it was cold again, and then we would separate.
Fire warms us.
Fire solves the problem of coldness. Fire is important to us. If there is fire within us, people will gather around us. If the fire of the Holy Spirit is in the churches, people will gather. Sermons must be delivered with the fire of the Holy Spirit; songs must be sung with the fire of the Holy Spirit; the preacher must speak with the fire of the Holy Spirit and must be filled in order to speak. You must draw near to the fire in order to become warm.
Fire also burns.
On the day of Pentecost, it set the apostles on fire. What did it burn? It burned away Peter’s timidity. Peter was fearful, wasn’t he? He was afraid, but the fire of the Holy Spirit burned away Peter’s fear. It burned away Thomas’s unbelief. My brother said that there was a fire in Napa, didn’t he, Brother Aram, and many things were burned—expensive houses, everything. The fire burned it all, and what did it become? Ash.
We need the fire of the Holy Spirit, dear people. I say, “Lord Jesus, set me on fire with the fire of Your Holy Spirit, so that the fire of the Holy Spirit will burn away our ‘self,’ our pride, our conceit, our unforgiveness, gossip, selfishness, and love of the world.” Amen. Do we need the fire of the Holy Spirit or not, dear people, so that the fire of the Holy Spirit may burn within us?
There is a saying about a man who is walking along the road and sees a large church. I think I have told this story before; I do not remember. He sees a large church, approaches it, and sees how terribly large it is. The sexton is sitting there. He says to the sexton, “Dear Alfred, this church is so large and cold; how will these people get warm?” The sexton replies, “Dear Tsolak, when the minister of our church speaks, fire comes out of him and warms the church. The fire of the Holy Spirit warms it when he speaks.”
He says to Jeremiah, “I placed My word in your mouth as fire.” What is it to do? Burn, consume, and turn things to ash. “And I made the people wood”—meaning that this fire will burn the wickedness and unbelief of the people. May fire come out of our mouths—the Word of God—so that it burns away all unbelief. Let us worship God only with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Let it burn away the fleshly fire. We need only and solely the fire of the Holy Spirit, people of God.
I used to be a hunter. We would go hunting and light a fire in the forest. We knew there were bears and wild boars. When we lit the fire and sat down, the animals would not approach it; they were afraid. Who is not afraid of fire? Everyone is afraid, isn’t that so? As soon as the fire went out, we climbed a tree because we knew the beasts would come. But as long as the fire remained, nothing approached—neither mosquitoes, nor bears, nor wild boars. They were afraid of the fire. If the fire of the Holy Spirit burns within us, it will burn away our pride, our arrogance, our selfishness, our showiness, and our human thinking and nature. Amen. That is why we need to draw near to the fire.
What a fire Jesus was! How many people gathered around Jesus because they became warm near Him. Our Savior was a fire. The division and destruction of churches result from the absence of fire. The fire has gone out in the churches. May the fire of the Holy Spirit burn in the churches. Do you agree, dear people? May the fire of the Holy Spirit burn so that the people will come and become warm. When it is cold, people need warmth. A cold person approaches the fire to become warm. The people are waiting for us; they are frozen. Fire is needed. We must be fire. Wherever we are, we must be fire, people of God. To become fire, we must draw near to the fire and draw near to the Word. The Word of God is fire; the Word of God is a hammer. Use it. Fill yourself with it so that it will spring forth from you. He said to Jeremiah, “I placed My word in your mouth.” Truly, when Jeremiah spoke, people repented.
There was fire in Peter; Peter set people ablaze. Do you remember in Acts when Peter spoke, 120 people repented, and then 3,000 people were set ablaze by Peter’s sermon and Peter’s words, because fire came out of his mouth? Today, dear soul, wherever you are, does fire come out of your mouth, or are you cold? The prayer of a person who has not been ignited by fire is boring; his sermon is boring; his song is boring. The Holy Spirit sets us on fire. The Holy Spirit prepares us. We need the Holy Spirit. We need Pentecost.
Moses was on Mount Zion to receive the Law from the Lord. He communed with the Lord; he communed with the fire; and Moses’ face was changed and radiant. People could not look at Moses. Why? Because he had been with the fire, with God. Today, when people look at our image, what image do they see—the image of Cain or the image of Jesus? Whose image do they see upon us? A collective farm...? Why? We are children of God. God has given us fire; He has given us the Word of God. Use it. Fill yourself. Fill the jars with water so that miracles may happen, prophecy may be fulfilled, healing may take place, demons may come out, and churches may be united. Divisions result from a lack of fire. Coldness needs warmth. Amen. Darkness needs light. The people are in darkness; fire is needed. But do we warm them, or do we say, “Well, all right, it is fine”? What do you mean, it is fine? A person who has fire cannot sit quietly. A person who has fire will speak, tell, preach, sing, and talk about Jesus, because he is fire. They will hear, repent, and turn to Christ, as in Peter’s time. When Peter spoke, they asked, “What should we do, brothers?” “Repent.” Fire was coming out of Peter.
Dear soul, does fire come out of you? If not, draw near to the fire.
Fire also melts.
God melts us; God purifies us through fire. When you take gold from a mine, it is not pure gold. The goldsmith puts it into the fire and melts it so that he can make it an instrument in his hands. Melted, purified gold quickly becomes an instrument because every other metal, copper, and everything else comes out of it. Pride will also come out of us when the fire of the Holy Spirit burns within us. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit, dear people, to melt us, free us from our showiness and our human and fleshly ideas, give us a heavenly nature, and cause it to spring forth from us.
Fire also purifies.
Do you remember Isaiah chapter 6, when the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord? “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.” What did the angel of the Lord do to Isaiah’s mouth? He touched it with the coal, cleansed it, and purified it. If you want your lips to be purified, use fire. If you want your thoughts to be burned away, use fire.
There was a fire in Napa, as the brother said, and everything burned and became ash. God wants to turn us to ash with the fire of His Holy Spirit—that is, to make us humble—so that He can use the ashes in His hand. First He must put us into the fire, burn us, and turn us to ash; then He can use us however He desires. The goldsmith can use the gold however he wishes, but he cannot use it before it is melted. He melts it so that it may be purified. God melts us and burns us with His fire so that He may make us instruments in His hand—make one a doctor, another a translator, a prophet, or an evangelist. Was this written only for the first century? We say of Jesus Christ that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If you say He is the same, then pray and let the sick person be healed. Pray that someone may be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Pray that the demon may come out of the demon-possessed person. Pray. Fire is what is missing within you.
Here on earth, if the fire does not burn, consume, and purify us, there is the fire of sin—the lake of sulfur. If that fire burns you, it will already be too late; you will cry “woe.” Today is the time to burn. Today is the time to use the fire. Today is the day of salvation; today is the time to receive. Receive it so that you may awaken. Receive it so that you may become fire and warm those who are frozen. How many frozen people there are! God will use those who want the people to be saved. God takes and makes instruments in His hand those who long for people to be saved and long for them to turn to God.
God saw Moses’ heart when he killed the Egyptian who was fighting with an Israelite, do you remember? He made that Moses a ruler over Pharaoh and struck Pharaoh’s head with the staff. God knew Moses. God knows every one of us as well. He takes and uses those who long for Him and want to serve the Lord. God does not force anyone, as my brother said. God calls, but you must open the door, receive Him, and be willing.
Jesus called to the people of Jerusalem:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who killed the prophets and stoned those sent to you, how many times I wanted to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”
We must be willing for God to set us on fire. Do you agree that we should burn, or do we have nothing that needs burning? There is much within us that needs to be burned.
And fire also gathers.
I was a villager. In our Hrazdan, almost one and a half to two meters of snow would fall in the winter. When my father lit the tonir, the house became so warm that even the snow above melted from the heat. God reminds me: Look at fire; that is why He tells you, “Fire, fire, fire.” The bakery roof was made of earth, and the snow melted because of the warmth.
Jesus came into the world to warm our hardened hearts. He came to warm us with His fire so that everything worldly would melt, everything human would melt, and He would remove everything—human words and thoughts. May He melt everything with the warmth of the fire of the Holy Spirit. Amen. May God strengthen us.
I have gathered so many verses, dear people, but when I begin speaking, I forget where I was going to say them. But may the Holy Spirit speak. I say, “Holy Spirit, You speak. Since You gave me the thought, open and expand my mind so that I may speak.” And He brings the Word of God to mind: when David offered a sacrifice at the threshing floor of Ornan, fire burned from heaven. The fire burned. We need the fire to burn within us. Do you remember Gideon?
Dear people of God, do we have a need or not? If we have a need, God will strengthen us; God will set us on fire with His fire. Whoever does not come to church is cold and needs warmth. Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday... We gather three days, but we must draw near to the fire every day. My brother Gegham, do you remember, said, “Brothers and sisters, let us at least wake up at six in the morning and read the Gospel for one hour.” I said, “Isn’t one hour too little, dear Gegham?” But he knows that few people read, so he says, “At least spend one hour with the Word of God.” And what does God say to Joshua—one hour, or meditate on the Law day and night? After the death of Moses, God spoke to Joshua, chapter 1, verse 8: “Meditate on the Law of the Lord day and night so that you may have success; wherever you set your foot will belong to you, and wherever you go, you will defeat kings.” Why? Because the Word of the Lord is in your heart.
Know that Satan is afraid of fire. Is there anyone among us who would light the gas and hold a finger in the flame for one minute? He could not keep it there even for a few seconds; he would quickly pull it back, wouldn’t he? I was a cook’s assistant from the age of sixteen. My cook was a sixty-five-year-old man who had been a cook for forty years. He taught me cooking well. I was an apprentice; I was an assistant. He taught me until I advanced and became a cook. The cook first ate the best food himself and then gave it to the people. God wants to make all of us His disciples. When we put meat or barbecue over the fire, the excess fat and everything else comes out of the meat. The longer we leave it there, the better it cooks, and we eat it with an appetite. God places us in the fire. He wants the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn within us so that we may speak from the Word of God and so that God’s Word may spring from us and come out of our mouths. You must draw near and practice so that you become a good cook and give good food to people. First you must be an apprentice, and then a master. Jesus says the same thing: it is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher. The disciples must draw near to the Teacher and ask, “Teach me the way,” and He will teach them.
Fire also burns away germs.
For example, our gym has a steam room and a sauna—a dry steam room. In the dry sauna, the temperature is around 100 to 110 degrees. There are no germs or bacteria there because the heat burns everything. The Holy Spirit says, “Do you see what fire does? You must become such a fire that you do not accept Satan’s thoughts and they are completely burned away.” If we receive the fire of the Holy Spirit within us, Satan’s thoughts will burn. As Brother Artak said, thoughts come: “Oh, well, do not go today.” That fire will burn those thoughts and take you toward the house of the Lord. But if you do not use that fire, it will take you to Alaska.
Let us use the fire within us so that we may come to the house of the Lord. Let us use the fire so that the people may become warm and united. Do you see the condition of the church? Do you see the condition of Sacramento? It is the absence of fire, the absence of the fire of the Holy Spirit. The fire of the Holy Spirit is the God of unity. The apostles were united because the fire of the Holy Spirit had burned within their persons. Those who are not united are deprived of the fire of the Holy Spirit. I do not want my people to be deprived of the fire of the Holy Spirit. I do not want you to burn with other fires. If we have not been set on fire by the fire of the Holy Spirit, Satan will bring every kind of thought, and you will receive it. But if the fire is within you, it will burn every thought. Then we will come to church in unity, the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and we will give glory to God because He is worthy to receive glory and honor. We came into being by His will and were created by His will. Before we were created, He knew us. Those whom He knew, He predestined. When we buy something in a store or market, we choose what is good; we do not buy what is worm-eaten or rotten. Before our creation, God saw us, knew us, and predestined us. Blessed be His holy name, as the apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 8.
May God help us. Let us stand and pray together that God will set us on fire with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Do you agree? Who wants to be set on fire with the fire of the Holy Spirit? Let us burn with the fire of the Holy Spirit so that we may set people on fire—that is, burn all of Satan’s plans. Hallelujah, Lord.
Glory to You, glory to You, Mighty Holy One. Glory to You, Holy Fire. Hallelujah to You. Holy Spirit, we need You. Set us on fire with Your fire. Burn our selfish desires. Turn us to ash, Lord, so that You may use us in Your hand, Savior, as You used the prophets, patriarchs, and apostles. Use us. Set us on fire, Holy Spirit. Burn away what is worldly within us. Burn away our selfishness and our pride. Come and set us on fire, Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Glory, glory, glory, Lord! Glory to You.
Thank You for this spiritual food, Lord. Help me draw nearer to You, Jesus, so that souls may be ignited, glorify You, and be saved, and so that through Your fire—the fire of the Holy Spirit—we may destroy Satan’s strongholds. Bless us. Come, Holy Spirit, come into our homes. There are many things in our homes that need to be burned; burn them. Burn unbelief. Burn our human ideas. Destroy Satan’s nests and cut their threads. We invite You into the churches of Sacramento: come with Your fire and burn. Burn disunity, pride, and showiness. I ask for the fire of the Holy Spirit in the church, in our families, in America, and in Sacramento. Glory, power, Lord! I ask for the power of the Holy Spirit. Bless, lead, keep, and preserve us. We all need You, Savior. Glory to You. Blessed be Your holy name—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Amen.
“Our Father, who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
May Your kingdom come.
May Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For Yours is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory forever.
Amen.”
