Luke 3 Kingdom Life Fire by Reverend Christie Bature: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Speak the word over your life

Speaking scripture over your life brings testimonies Luke 3:5 to Luke 3:6

The word of God does not lie. When we speak the word, when we verbalize faith, we empower faith Isaiah 55:11

Always have expectation

Luke 3:15

Always have expectation when it has to do with God

Don't become so jaded: "I've heard this prayer before. They prayed it for me 20 times and it didn't work." Don't do that

Illustration: Jericho

Only Joshua heard God. The Israelites didn't hear God. He told them to start marching and make no noise. On the seventh day, march seven times Joshua 6

They didn't know what was going to happen. Only Joshua knew. But they moved in faith, trust and belief. They kept marching and exercised faith for whatever was coming

Many times God won't give you the full picture. But you have to believe

Galatians 6:9 is a call to faith, so that you trust God

Always have an expectation where God is concerned

Never take an identity that is not yours

Luke 3:16

People began to say, "Can this be the Messiah?" John was insistent and authoritative. He corrected them at once

I may be powerful. I may be anointed, graced, knowledgeable. But I am not the Messiah

John placed himself where he belongs. Jesus is the great one, the mighty one, the master. John is his servant.

The Message translation calls John a stage hand and Jesus the main character in the drama

No case of stolen identity

Illustration: the song

The convenor of a program told a person meeting me for the first time that a certain song was mine.

I said, "Actually, it's not my song. I only sang it a lot years ago. I don't even know who sang it first"

She insisted she first heard it from me. Then she walked away and left me with the person I was just meeting

That person held my hand and said, "God can trust you"

I don't know why she said those words, but I believe it was probably because I owned up that the song wasn't mine.

I could have taken the glory and nobody would have been the wiser

Never take on an identity that is not yours

Never take on honor that is not yours. Never take on glory that is not yours. Never collect accolades that are not meant for you

Kingdom life fire

Luke 3:16

He will ignite the kingdom life, and he called it a fire

How can anybody tell me that following Jesus is boring? The kingdom life is a fire Jeremiah 20:9

If you are not experiencing the kingdom life fire, ask God for it. I want the fire of the kingdom to be lit in you

Don't be lazy when you read the Bible. Find many versions. It will help you understand

King James, Message, God's Word and ERV all say fire. The Passion Translation says raging fire

Passion Translation commentary: a baptism of light or fire will cleanse and change a life

It gives new power to live for God, and to deal with every issue that hinders love and passion from burning in our hearts

It is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that all believers need today

If you gave your life to Christ and your life is still the same, you didn't encounter Jesus

If you have not encountered the fire, go back and say, "Father, show me" or "fill me with that fire"

No wonder the Bible says we are ministers of fire. What enters us the moment we give our lives to Christ is fire. It will cleanse and change a life

People sitting in church, living the way they lived before they gave their lives to Christ, have not encountered the fire. Their journey has not begun

The Holy Ghost doesn't come just so we can speak in tongues. He comes to give new power to live for God and to deal with issues

He baptizes you with the Holy Spirit, not a dirty spirit, not a sinful spirit, not a twisted spirit. And if he is a holy spirit, he wants to infuse holiness into you

True or trash

Luke 3:17

What does a fan do? It blows

Jesus speaks about natural disasters that herald his return. Four natural disasters happened in the last 28 days, back to back

He also speaks about nation against nation Matthew 24:7

The Greek is not necessarily Nigeria versus Cameroon. It is people against people, people of the same land. Look at what is happening in Nigeria

Jesus is coming soon. One of the things that will happen is a purifying of the church. The Bible calls God a purifying fire

Get on the path of righteousness and holiness.

Submit your members, your mind, your body, your choices, your decisions, your thoughts to the Lord. He has his fan in his hand and he will thoroughly purge

The Message translation says the Holy Spirit is within you, changing you from the inside out. Are you surrendering your insides to be changed?

He is going to clean house. All the charlatans, hirelings, pretenders, hypnotizers and false people in the house. He will make a clean sweep of your life. Surrender that life

He will place everything true in its proper place. The things that are false he will put out with the trash to be burned

Are you true or are you trash?

Are you wheat or are you chaff? That's another way to put it. I refuse to be chaff

Illustration: the village

As a child I went to the village with my parents. The women brought rice or guinea corn from the farm and put it in heaps on the ground.

They beat it with big sticks and the grain fell away from the chaff, but both were still in the same place

They poured it onto a wide raffia tray and lifted it. The wind blew the chaff to one side and the grain fell down in front of them.

They did it on a windy day because the wind helps blow the chaff away

They packed the chaff and threw it away. They also used it in the fire. It helps the firewood burn faster

So are you wheat or are you chaff? The chaff burns with fire unquenchable

How can I know what the end will be like and not choose well? God did not hide the end from us. He showed us the end

The end has an unquenchable fire on one side and an unquenchable paradise on the other

How can you allow your flesh to keep you from choosing right when God has shown you what the end will be? 1 John 2:16

How does one deal with church members who are found sleeping with each other? They have not encountered the fire. The kingdom life is supposed to ignite a fire

Check again whether they are truly Christians. Don't believe that everybody in church is a Christian Job 1:6

The wind of adversity can be used to blow the trash away from my life

How can I allow my flesh to anchor the direction of my destiny? God has already told us how it will end. It's either you believe him or you don't

• I pray that the clarity of God will come upon you in the name of Jesus
• That you submit your heart to the influence of the Holy Spirit so confusion will be taken away from you

Go away thinking about this seriously: how can I know how it will end and not choose right?

Let it guide the choices you make, the places you go, the people you relate with, the things you do, the things you say, the thoughts you allow yourself to think

The balanced gospel

Luke 3:18

The Message translation says they were words that gave strength and put heart in them

If the gospel you are hearing is just condemnation, judgment and demons every day, you are not hearing the balanced gospel

Yes, we should hear about demons, how they operate, our authority over them and how to exercise it. Yes, we should hear about sin and judgment

But we should also hear about the mercy of God, the compassion of God, the forgiveness of God, the healing of God and the comfort of God. That's the balanced gospel

John the Baptist is one of the most balanced preachers in the scriptures. He spoke the judgment of God and the mercy of God at the same time

Confront and correct

Luke 3:19

Herod was the governor. John was not reducing it for anybody. He spoke God's impending judgment, he spoke God's comfort, and he confronted people

"Don't judge me." If we don't judge you in the body of Christ, where will you go and be judged?

We are not supposed to go to unbelievers to settle our matters, so where are you supposed to be confronted?

Those who say "don't judge me" have decided to put sin in front

Those in the body of Christ who do not want to be corrected are not part of the body

If God leaves you alone, he doesn't love you Hebrews 12:6

If God does not send people to confront you, it means you don't matter in his kingdom. Don't reject the chastisement or the correction of the Lord

John was not afraid to speak to the governor. "Let me close my mouth before they sack me from my job." You cannot confront bad behavior in your office? Why? You are protecting a job

How can you know the end and not choose right?

Herod was a sexual sinner. Of all the women, he took his brother's wife.

This kind of thing causes everlasting fights in families. It makes brothers enemies for life, or sisters enemies for life. It is incest.

I've also seen sisters sleeping with their sister's husband

John confronted him not only about that sin but about all the evils Herod had done

If you are a pastor or a leader playing favorites, confronting the poor ones and leaving the rich ones because they will take their money away, repent. Take a cue from John the Baptist.

He did not spare anybody

God calls us to that same ministry. It is a duty and a responsibility to confront fellow believers when they are not living right

The log and the speck

Matthew 7:5

I have removed my log. God did not say it's not possible to remove the log. And our logs are not necessarily the same

If I'm a hypocrite, I have no right to confront another hypocrite. If I'm a thief, I have no right to confront another thief without dealing with my own stealing

If I'm not a thief, maybe I struggle with laziness, and I see a thief, I have the moral and spiritual authority as a believer to say, "Stop stealing."

The log of stealing is not in my eye

It's not a blanket instruction that you cannot confront anything. If I'm not a thief and I see you steal, I'll tell you. When you see my laziness, tell me, because you are not lazy

Luke 3:20

Herod's attitude: "I don't want you to confront me. I don't want you to ask about my sin.

Because I have the power to, I will lock you up so you will not be talking again"

First, he locked John up so that he would not talk again. Second, he locked him up to intimidate him, so that when he brought him out he would not confront or accuse him again

Jesus is baptized

The Bible jumped ahead to John in prison. But before he went into prison, Luke 3:21 happened

It is good to be baptized. If you have not been baptized, get baptized. It will not stop you from going to heaven if you don't

Baptism fulfills one of the tenets of Christianity Matthew 3:15

Jesus came by himself to be baptized. He was praying as it was happening. He did not come just to do a ritual

Luke 3:22

The Trinity in unity. The Son was being baptized and praying to the Father. The Holy Spirit showed up in physical form. Then the Father spoke

Everybody was playing their part, but they were one whole. Strive for that in your family and in your home

Can God make this pronouncement about you, as a son or as a daughter? What are you doing, how are you living, that will make God say this about you?

The Message translation says chosen and marked by my love, the pride of my life. Jesus is the pride of God's life

How sweet it will be to hear God say about me, "Christie is the pride of my life"

It is such an honor to be trusted by God. Can God trust you? Can the Lord depend on you?

Let's make it a focus, a dream, a desire, to be the pride of God's life, marked by his love, chosen

Son of God

Luke 3:23 to Luke 3:38

When Jesus entered public life he was about 30 years old, the son, in public perception, of Joseph

Each person mentioned in the genealogy has a story

Zerubbabel: I hope it is the same one of "who art thou, O great mountain". The mountain becomes a plain by shouts of grace. That's a whole message Zechariah 4:7

Perez was the son Tamar had with Judah. He was the illegitimate son of Judah Genesis 38

You see the names repeating themselves

It ends with son of God. All the names we read, the ones that were good, the ones that were bad, the ones that were terrible, were inside son of God

If you are a child of God, you are son of God. If you have given your life to Christ, you are son of God. Even if you are struggling, you are son of God

Cain the murderer's name is here. Jacob the trickster's name is here. Solomon's name is here. All of them are here

Use your spiritual legs

Keep believing God for complete healing. It seems like you are still in the same situation because you are seeing only the physical. You are not seeing the spirit realm

Our hope will not be cut off. Every day you are weak in spirit, be strong in spirit

Your physical legs can't walk, but your spiritual legs can walk. Use them

Your financial legs are incapacitated, use your spiritual legs. Your emotional legs, your psychological legs, your physical legs, use your spiritual legs

Any physical leg that is not working, use your spiritual one in the name of Jesus.

A blind woman who made her mark in the world said the worst kind of blindness is not physical blindness but spiritual blindness