Jeremiah 23:29- Is not my word like a fire? Saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

An Atheist stood on a street corner across the street from a church that was on fire. The pastor of the church went up to him and said This is the first time Ive ever seen you at church. The Atheist replied; this is first time I ever saw the church on fire.

Most people I know dont care to go to a cold, formalistic church service. They like to go to church where they can feel something and enjoy themselves. If you received something and you didnt feel it when you got it, then if you lost it, you wouldnt know when you lost it. God said that his ministers would be a flame of fire; the fire melts the ice of unbelief that is in peoples hearts. God also said that his word was like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. I visited a church where my son, Steve was preaching not long ago. At the close of the service he asked me to dismiss in prayer; I said, Lord , I thank you for your word that has gone forth tonight; You said, My word shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it; and you also said, Is not my word like a fire? Saith the Lord ; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? And then I said, amen.

Sometime later I visited this church again and a lady came to me after the service and said she had something to tell me. She said, I was in the service when your son, Steve preached and he asked you to dismiss in prayer. I was suffering with kidney stones and was in excruciating pain during the service. As you began to pray, I was hoping that you would get through quick since I was suffering so much in my body, but then you quoted that scripture about the hammer breaking the rock in pieces and all of a sudden the pain left my body and the kidney stones were instantly broken up and dissolved. When  I left the choir that night, before your son preached, one of the other choir members told me that he had a word from the Lord for me; and he said that word is "hammer". All through the service while your son was preaching the word hammer kept going over and over in my mind; then when you prayed and said hammer God instantly healed me. Praise the Lord!

The word of God is the truth on fire. Jesus said, You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Jeremiah said, Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. He also said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay. God told Jeremiah, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. John the Baptist said, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather the wheat into his garner; but he will burn up the Chaff with unquenchable fire

John the Baptist said that he had given people the water works and that Jesus would give them the fire works. Jesus said, Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. The 120 that were gathered in the upper room were seeking everything that Jesus had promised them. But what words of theirs could express the inexpressible joy and praise that was in their heart. Their captive praises were pleading to be set free. In Acts 2:2 it says And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. God had just sawed the bottom out of heaven and dropped it on them. No more would they be defeated and full of fear but they would go forth and be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. I wish somebodys church would catch on fire and burn with the Holy Ghost.