CHARIOTS OF FIRE

The prophetic church is to have the same impact on the world around it that Jesus had during his ministry of flesh and blood on Israel.

The prophetic church is to be a sign of the Kingdom so clear that nobody, seeing that sign can ever again have an excuse. They can never say,” Oh, but I didn't know, I never saw, nobody told me”.

Just as Jesus was a sign to Capernaum, Bethesda, and Jerusalem of the Kingdom of God…

People watching Jesus heal the sick were seeing the Kingdom,

People listening to Jesus speak were hearing a word right from the mouth of God.

So we, along with all members of the Body of Christ, are to be a sign to the city and environs of where we are… of the Kingdom of God just as clear as Jesus was a sign. So that people seeing what are doing are seeing God's Kingdom and hearing us speak are hearing a word from God.

Now, theoretically that sounds okay. But when we take this down and apply it to a specific struggling congregation, and say that this insignificant congregation here is to be a sign of the Kingdom of God in this city and is to have an impact for the Kingdom of God on this city. To the natural mind, it seems a little bit absurd, almost pretentious… “were not big enough. We're too small. We don't have the resources. We are in the wrong location. We don't have the connections to make any impact on this city. We just don't have what it takes to make even the slightest effect on the city and its environs.” If we were to meet for 50 years more, and packed the place every Sunday, and had a wonderful time in fellowship with each other, and were to go out there, seriously, proclaiming the Kingdom of God every day of the week, most likely this city would go on about its business, almost unaffected, not knowing we even exist. How could we even make an impact?

But the answer of the Lord to us is…

“Have No Fear! It's not your Kingdom, it's my Kingdom.

And you will make an impact on this city. You will be a sign of the Kingdom of God.

You are at exactly the right place, and it's exactly the right time to manifest my glory”.

Once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place shall be my camp.” But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are going down there.”  And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God told him. Thus he used to warn him, so that he saved himself there more than once or twice.

And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel?” And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.” 

And he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and seize him.” It was told him, “Behold, he is in Dothan.”  So he sent there horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”

He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.”

So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

2 Kings 6:8-17 (ESV)

To the natural eye, it looked absolutely hopeless. There was no way out of this thing. Because the natural eye was incapable of seeing the horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And those horses and chariots of fire didn't shed a drop of blood. They were there simply to answer the prayers of this man of God. And so Elisha would pray and eyes would open. That's what he was there for.

Elisha was in exactly the right place, at exactly the right time, to manifest the glory of God, not only to his doubting servant, but to all Israel, and to all Syria, to Jew and Gentile, to believer and unbeliever.

And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.

As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?”  He answered, “You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? 

Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.”  So he prepared for them a great feast, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.

2 Kings 6:18-23

Notice, Elisha didn't say, well, I think it's time for us to have a revival and then try to make one happen. He fit into the movement of the Kingdom of God, fit into the movement of the Spirit of God. Those Chariots of Fire were not there to shed blood; they were there to answer his prayer.

All Elisha did was pray.

He prayed eyes open and shut, by means of the chariots of fire.

“O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.”

His eyes opened. He sees the chariots of fire and the horses of fire. Then Elisha prays…

“Please strike this people with blindness.”

So the chariots of fire come and they put a veil over the eyes of the army of the Syrians.

He leads them into Samaria, and he prays.

“O Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.”

And the chariots of fire open their eyes.

This is exactly what Jesus did.

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”

John 9:39

And when John the Baptist was becoming panicky about whether Jesus was going to do anything significant.

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 

Matthew 11: 2-5

The Chariots of Fire are busy answering the prayers of our Lord, confirming his word.

So how are we going to make an impact on this city in exactly the same way; it’s by means of the Chariots of Fire.

They make it possible for us to pray and eyes will open.

They make it possible for us to speak and ears will open.

What we need to understand is that the real work is not done by us; it's done by those horses and Chariots of Fire. In other words, from God’s side,

God in the realm of Spirit, God at the Throne of the Universe….

answers our prayers.

We pray…..and eyes open because he answers our prayers.

We speak…and ears open because he confirms our word.

This is what Jesus is getting at when he says…

Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 

Matthew 18:18

Our responsibility as a prophetic church is to bring the horses and Chariots of Fire, those heavenly chariots, to bear on earthly eyes and ears.

There are two lessons to put into practice as we exercise our ministry’s, out there in the world.

Remember as we practice these two lessons is the power that causes it to be possible is the Spirit of God moving through the body.

We're not individualistic.

We're not Lone Rangers.

We're not individuals operating independently of the rest of the body.

We are part of the body.

We're drawn together.

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Matthew 18:19-20

We come together as a body so that he can fill us with what we need so that we then can go out and exercise the ministry.

Lesson #1

We are to pray people’s eyes open.

“Open his eyes that he may see, oh Lord”!

We need to be specific in our praying for people.

“Lord God, open their eyes that they may see your son, that they may know his glory, that they may experience his mercy.”

Sometime soon your phone might ring, you might get an email, a text, something. Someone reaching out to you because they’re discouraged, they’re overwhelmed with guilt or they’re upset, anxious, nervous, or angry about something. And then is when you begin to speak.

You listen, and you speak.

But as you listen, and as you speak, you also pray…

“Lord God opened his eyes, open his eyes, and open her eyes. That they may see”.

Expect to get some exercise in opening blind eyes soon. And even if it seems to go slowly, remember….

It's the horses and Chariots of Fire that do the work. We pray and they move.

Lesson #2

We're to speak people ears open.

Open their ears with a spoken word.

True, not every ear is open for a word from God. God knows who is open and who is not, so Jesus would say…He who has ears to hear let him hear. (Matthew 11:15). But some who hear will respond. And the only way the ear opens is through a spoken word …. by the Word itself; not ramming verse after verse down someone’s throat. But speaking a word whether it's directly out of Kings James or whether it's straight from your heart, speaking a word that you know is a word of comfort, a word of encouragement, or even a word of rebuke, but a word. And trust that it will happen that that the word you speak will somehow be confirmed. Know that.

Wherever we are, the exact place where we are, whether it’s a Tuesday afternoon or Thursday evening or Friday morning, believe that there will be an opening to speak a word of encouragement, or a word of hope, or a specific word about Jesus.

Just speak it, and trust that the Chariots of Fire will do the work.

Trust and know that it will be received.

Trust that there will be a response, there will be something.

Speak that word. Do not be afraid to do it.

If we speak…

The Chariots will move….

and ears will open

and hearts will melt

and people will be drawn toward the Kingdom.

Our problem over the years has been that we have all too often gone through our days intimidated by the chariots and the horses of the Syrians up there in the hillside and we say, “oh, we're outnumbered. Nobody will listen to me I don't have anything to offer. My word seems so inconsequential and so pale and so weak beside the so-called great issues of the day”.

But, the word is that those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

Don’t be afraid.

“Alas, my master! What shall we do?”

He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.”

So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Our task is to pray the ear, and the mouth, and the eye loose.

To pray first for ourselves, and then to pray their eye open and to speak their ear open with a word from God.

We will make an impact on the world around us, not five years down the road, but today.

Soon, those horses and Chariots of Fire will open the blind eye, and will open the deaf ear in answer to our prayers and to confirm our words.

And the blind will see, and the lame will walk, and the lepers will be cleansed. And the deaf will hear, and the dead will rise. And the poor will hear good news about Jesus, who died and rose and lives and reigns!

Richard Bieber 1987

Below is a story that Dick shared during this sermon. It is a personal example of an interaction that God brought to him right where he was….how he spoke this stranger’s ears open and prayed his eyes to open and let him go to the chariots of fire and the horses.

Last Sunday night Jean and I were holding our tickets and boarding passes at the gate at the Toronto airport. We were to board a plane to go to Halifax to be with Jean's family after the death of her mother. We get to this man, and he says, could you take them over to the counter? There's been a mix up in the seating. Our first thought was, uh oh, we're going to get bumped off this flight. How are we going to get down there? But when we get to the counter, we discover that we've been promoted from tourist class, to first class. That was fine until the flight attendant told us that they were five meals short. I thought, just take me back! But anyway, it worked out they had an extra meal and Jean and I split it and things worked out fine. But, what I want to get at was that instead of sitting over on the left side of the plane, with two seats by the window, by ourselves, we're shoved up to the front in three seats, bigger seats, with wider seating. Here, there is a man sitting by the window, then myself, then Jean.

So I sit down, I’m minding my own business, it was a long day. And I don’t want to talk to him. No, it's not street work time. So I'm trying to relax and you know, maybe take a little nap and this guy starts talking. What can you do? All right, Lord… So it turns out he's with Honeywell and he's in charge of installing a fiber optics communication system for the Canadian Navy so that they'll be able to see where all the ships are in the North Atlantic.

And we're talking and we find out about his family. He's from England originally. He lives in Toronto, has to fly down there every Sunday night, and he comes back every Friday. And the conversation goes on. And finally I find the conversation goes to religion. I find myself saying to him, when's the last time you read the New Testament? Well, it's been a while 25 years. I said, - read it! What do you think of Jesus, I asked him? I think he was a little taken back. He was abashed and now it was getting to be a little unpleasant, but he said, “well, I think he's a great man along with many other great men”. And I said to him, “he’s more than that. You won't find a man like Jesus anywhere else in history, nor will you find anybody like Jesus in all fiction. Search the libraries, you won't find anybody like Jesus -get to know him”.

And that was as far as I thought I was to go. He didn't fall on his knees and pray the sinners prayer, bursting into tears. But, I really believe is that it is a matter of praying his eyes open. You know from here on, it’s the horses and Chariots of Fire. They are to do the work, So join me in praying for this man. His name is Peter Pfifer. When he has these nights alone in the little hotel room down in Halifax Monday night through Thursday Night, be praying for Peter, pray that he would somehow be drawn to open up and investigate, and to meet Jesus.