Strange fire. What is it and how should we avoid it. I believe that this video will help those
of you who are in ministry and those of you who are inspired to be in ministry or in any
kind of position in a local church where you are serving the cause and the mission of Jesus Christ.
But before we go into that I would like to welcome you to this channel. If this is your first time
welcome, don't forget to subscribe. Click on the bell so you can be reminded each time that
we go live. If you're the regular, thank you for watching and always don't forget to click thumbs
up to the video and drop in the comments of what you are learning. When it comes to strange fire
there's been conferences in books written concerning the manifestations of the Holy Spirit
and they've been used and the word strange fire has been used to pretty much label anything that
the other side of the charismatic movement does not agree with. I want to look at today the
verse and the story of when this profane strange fire happened and something that will I believe
challenge the young ministers, older ministers and those who are serving the Lord today in this
day and age to really watch over their holiness. Now the background of the story. Aaron most likely
had four sons and two of his oldest sons were with Aaron, you know on the mountain as well as
the 70 elders, Joshua and Moses and they were with God. They had experiences with God. They were also
inaugurated into priesthood and we see that they died childless. In fact after their inauguration
they go into the presence of God and they offered this profane strange fire and then they die as
a result of that. They did not die drinking in the club or cheating on their spouses. They did
not die murdering somebody. They died serving God. They died in the ministry, while doing ministry. I
mean this is crazy. Now what is this strange fire. In the original language the strange fire means
strange or from outside and some translations say unauthorized fire or profane fire. Other
translations say illegitimate fire. Now we are referencing right now the story of Leviticus where
this story took place where they died. Leviticus chapter 10 all the way from verse one all the way
down. Now there are many probable causes of why some people think that these guys died and I'm
going to share with you these causes. And then as well as I want to share some takeaways for us as
ministers or people in ministry of how to keep the fire burning and not to have strange fire on our
altar. Some people say that the reason why these two sons of Aaron died were because they took fire
that should have been taken from the altar and they made their own fire. And in Leviticus chapter
16:12 we see that God wanted the fire to be taken from the altar and they're saying that most likely
that these sons of Aaron they took fire out of other sources then from the altar. Another
possibility is that they perhaps were drunk when they showed up to do their priestly duty. And
where do we get that idea is in Leviticus chapter 10 verse 8 and 9 it says right after they died God
tells Moses to tell Aaron that make sure priests do not enter into serving in the tabernacle,
they didn't have the temple yet. Intoxicated meaning they were not allowed to be intoxicated
while they're performing their priestly duties and some people linked that to the fact that most
likely Aaron's sons came drunk or tipsy. It could have been also that they have offered it at the
wrong time according to Exodus chapter 30:7-9. And God wanted a particular time, at particular time
these sacrifices to be offered and most likely they offered it at the wrong time. We don't know
for sure but another, the last probable cause is that perhaps they went too far into the sanctuary
where only Aaron could go on the day of atonement according to Leviticus chapter 16:12-13. So out of
these four probable causes we actually don't know exactly what caused them to get this reaction from
God where the fire that came from God on the altar was also the fire that killed them and they died
childless. Here are my five takeaways from that story. Number one. God's work must be done
God's way. You know the fire was the same but the source was different. It produced light and
heat but it also had different consequences. You know God's work is different than any other work
and it should be done God's way. It should be done with God's help. It should be done with
God's anointing. It should be done with God's strength and support. You can't do God's work
your own way. You can't do God's work through the way of the world. You can't do God's work
through all kinds of different means and methods. Just because you know,some people say well the end
justifies the means. It might work in business, it might work in many other places in your life
but when it comes to serving God, when it comes to a local church, when it comes to you volunteering,
when it comes to you leading, when it comes to your speaking, when it comes to you maybe
broadcasting or writing or whatever that is that you're doing for God. You must do it God's way.
My second takeaway is yesterday's experiences will not excuse today's carelessness. What these means
is they were careless in some way, shape and form they did something that exemplified carelessness.
Maybe becoming too casual, perhaps becoming too familiar with God. They had tremendous
experiences in their past. They were the children of the high priest, they were relatives of Moses,
they were also invited to sit with God along with 70 elders, Moses and Joshua and their father
Aaron. Their dad was the big shot and they got inaugurated, they got anointed into dysfunction.
But all of these perks, all of these experiences did not protect them from the consequences
of their profane fire, of their strange fire, of their casual and careless approach to the things
of God that got them killed. Your past passion, your past pursuit after God doesn't matter today
if you're not pursuing him today. You can't live on yesterday's manna. You got to have a current,
the now relationship with God. And a lot of times the further you go in ministry the more
you climb the ladder of promotion and influence and blessings of God so many times that our flame,
our passion, our hunger, our holiness decreases with time. May this not be about you. May this
not be you and I, that as we get closer with experiences with God our holiness, our standards,
our convictions, our boundaries ,they go out of the window and we start doing ministry through the
flesh. May we receive fresh oil in our lamp, may we receive fresh anointing in our mouth, in our
heart. May we walk with fresh fire in our souls. May we burn with fresh flame in our hearts for God
today. May our best stories not be about what we did yesterday, 10 years ago or 15 years ago. How
God moved, how we sacrificed, how we prayed, how we pressed in, how we lived for God radically.
May the best stories not be 20 or 10 years ago. May they be current, may they be present, may they
be now. The third thing is learn to take fire from your altar. Now these two sons of Aaron took fire
and most likely it was from other source than the altar. So you must understand that the fire on the
altar was first initially kindled by God. The fire on the altar was kindled by God. It was God's way
of approving the tent, the tabernacle. God's way got stamp of approval saying I like this, this
is pleasing to me. God came with the supernatural fire and kindled the altar and we see that after
that priests were required according to Leviticus chapter 16:12 to take fire from the altar. Now let
me ask you about your fire. Do you have it? Let me ask you a question. Where did you get your fire?
Where are you getting your fire from? Do you have an altar in your life? Is there a sacrifice
on that altar? An altar speaks of sacrifice. An altar speaks of surrender. An altar speaks
of a place of consecration. An altar speaks of a place of 100 absolute surrender to God.
Do you have an altar in your life? Have you offered your body as a living sacrifice?
Have you chosen not to conform to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
so that you can truly know what is the perfect good and pleasing, what is the best will of God
for your life. So many people find their passions, their fire not from the altar. Their fire burns
with ambition. There it burns with desire to be famous. They're burning but not so that
they can please God. They're burning so that they can become known by men. They're burning,
they're motivated, they're driven but they're not led by the Holy Ghost because if there is no altar
in your life whatever fire you're burning with is illegitimate. If there is no altar in your life
whatever fire that's consuming you is not holy fire. It's probably strange, it's probably
illegitimate, it's probably not authorized fire. It's probably a fire that is profane
because genuine real authorized fire comes from the altar. Do you have an altar in your life?
Is there a sacrifice on that altar? Is the fire keeps burning in your heart
from your altar? I don't chase fire. My goal is to build an altar, lay my life as an offering to God,
yield my body as a living sacrifice to Him. Seek not to be conformed to this world but
be transformed by the renewing of our mind according to Romans 12:1-2 And out of that
place God supernaturally kindles my heart aflame. God supernaturally kindles within me
His holy passion and desire for His will and His purpose. Number four. Don't do ministry
intoxicated. Now we don't know for sure whether these two men came into the tabernacle, the tent
intoxicated but we do know that God afterwards specifically instructed Moses to tell Aaron not
to come into the service intoxicated. Now in the Bible we see in 1 Timothy 3:8 it says that people
who are elders and bishops and deacons. We see that people in church qualify. Church leadership.
Part of the qualifications is not to be given to too much wine. Now so many people the issue of
alcohol is debatable and I have a whole blog about it pastorvlad.org/alcohol I'm going to do a video
about it very soon but I don't want to just touch on alcohol even though I'm a fervent believer that
if you are in the leadership position you should abstain from alcohol completely for many reasons.
One of them is that whatever you do in moderation your people will do in excess. And
the other one is that alcohol is really the devil's substitute for spirit-filled life.
But besides the point. As leaders many of us get intoxicated, some with alcohol,
some with self-importance, some with pride, some we become tipsy. We become drunk with the praises
of men, with the criticisms of men. And it begins to affect our behavior, our speech,
our thought pattern. We become self-important. We become little gods and we've developed a
cult personality in our ministries because we become intoxicated. We become inflated with our
self-worth. And one of the things that God wants us as priests to have and I speak prophetically
into your life that you will be sober minded. The Bible talks about having a sober mind
meaning you're valuing yourself based on what God says about you, not based on your latest
success. Do not get intoxicated on your past experiences with God. Do not get intoxicated
that you think now you have an excuse, now you can get away with this, now you can cut corners,
now your excuse, now somehow rules apply for them but not for you. Never get intoxicated
if you want to be in ministry. Get filled with the Holy Spirit but not intoxicated with pride,
alcohol or other things. And the last thing that I want to mention to you today is that
the closer a person gets to God the more careful they have to be about their holiness.
The closer you get to God. The closer you are moving in ministry to God, the more attention
you have to give to your personal holiness. Now our relationship with God is based on the blood.
Our relationship, we are saved through faith by grace. We are saved through the finished work
of Jesus Christ 150. I mean that's that's settled okay. But today I'm not talking about salvation,
I'm talking about sanctification. Today I'm talking about growing in holiness and a lot of
people what they do is that the moment they get closer to God, the moment they become familiar
with the ministry they lose their fascination with God. They lose their holiness, they lose their
boundaries, they lose their convictions and they give up on their standards. And the moment that
these men died in Leviticus chapter 10:2 God comes into the picture and He says the following," By
those who come near me I must be regarded as holy and before all the people I must be glorified."
God sets the protocol for the ministry and He says if you're coming near me I must be regarded
as holy. I am separate. I am almighty God. I am not like you. You are mortal. I am eternal,
you are finite. I am infinite, your knowledge is limited. I am omniscient, you're present in one
place. I am omnipresent. I am holy and you must regard me as Holy God says. And the Lord says
that before all the people I must be glorified. It's almost like if those who come near God if
those in ministry do not regard God as holy, then the people they are leading will not glorify God
as he is to be glorified. We have responsibility as people in ministry to regard God as holy. To
take inventory of our personal holiness, to take inventory of our boundaries, to take inventory of
our convictions. To see are we slipping, are we tripping, are we sliding, are we cutting corners,
are we trying to live one life before men and the other one in private? Because while we can lie
and we can play fake in front of people, we can't cheat God. You can't trick God. God is seeing
and God knows and sooner or later that strange fire is going to burn you. Instead of setting the
world on fire you're going to bring shame. You and I can bring shame to the name of Jesus and
in the process destroy our life and die childless, meaning die without bringing fruit to God's name.
I pray and I believe this is not going to be your case. I believe this is not going to be my case.
We're not going to offer strange fire, we're going to live in the holy fire for God in Jesus name.
Father I pray for every young man and every young woman. I pray for every adult that is watching
this and every elderly person who is in ministry. I pray that you will take away and sober us up
and I pray that we will not offer profane illegitimate, unauthorized, strange fire. I pray
that we will have altar and this altar will be kept that we will keep on having a sacrifice, keep
on having a fire on this altar. Father in the name of Jesus I pray for those who've been doing your
work the world's way, that you will accept our repentance Lord. I pray for those who have become
intoxicated with self-importance, ego and offense. Those who have given themselves over to wine,
other stimulants drugs or maybe other things to cope and numb the stress and the anxiety that they
are in. Maybe pornography, maybe gambling or video games or other things that are trying to numb the
stress that they are under. Bring freedom right now, bring deliverance right now in Jesus name,
amen. Thank you for watching this video. If you received a blessing from this hey let me know
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