A Fireball in the Hands of God
E.A. Johnston passionately calls believers to be wholly consumed and transformed by God's purifying fire, becoming powerful instruments for Christ's glory and gospel proclamation.
In 'A Fireball in the Hands of God,' E.A. Johnston passionately exhorts believers to be wholly consumed by God's purifying fire. Through vivid imagery and heartfelt prayer, he calls for a deep spiritual transformation that results in powerful gospel proclamation and holy living. Johnston emphasizes the necessity of surrender, conviction, and revival for the glory of Christ and the salvation of souls.
Full Transcript
My God is a consuming fire. Burn, great God, burn. Burn out all the dross and impurities in me.
Burn, burn, burn, so that all that's left is Christ's magnificent reflection. Your word is a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. Hammer me, smash me, make me nothing, grind me to powder so only Jesus is magnified in me.
Your word is a sword that cuts asunder. Slash me, slay me, make me dead to this world and dead to sin. Cut off my hands and my feet and transplant in me your nail-pierced hands and feet to where I'm crucified with thee, to where my hands are your hands, my feet are your feet.
Let me run to warn others to flee from the sinking ship of a world to flee to thee. Burn, great God, burn your fire in my bones. Make me a flame on fire for you.
Burn, great God, burn. Melt me by thy spirit. Sign I was altogether on a smoke beneath your presence.
Consume me, I pray, with thy presence. When I preach, let me thunder and smoke for thee. Let me preach your law with authority.
Make me a fireball in your hands. When I preach Christ and him crucified, burn conviction in the hearts of my hearers and burn down the rotten plankboards of their empty religious profession and let my hearers be alarmed to their lost condition and let them feel the heat from the flames licking up from hell itself. Make me your fireball, great king.
Let me flame out in thy service. Let everything around me burn up with the intensity of a flaming comet burning its way to earth. Let your great doctrines of your gospel spew from my lips with heat and power from above.
Let my last days be my brightest. Let my last energies be consumed in thee. Burn conviction in the hearts of my hearers, heated seven times seven.
Save many from the fires of hell, I plead. Open the eyes of men to see the blackness of their hearts. Show them their need of a blood-stained Christ.
Grant them Holy Spirit conviction and give them saving faith. Burn within me a desire to live only for eternity. Make me your fireball, great God, for thy glory and the sake of the gospel of thy dear Son, the Lord Christ of heaven, who sits at thy right hand and who earned that right by way of a bloody cross, a great God of heaven.
Send a revival that will burn across this land like a prairie fire. Let all the false props of the church be burned up for thee. Let Christ be preeminent in our sanctuaries and prominent in our lives.
Live for thee. Send a fire, great God. Make me a fireball for thee.
Sermon Outline
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I
- God as a consuming fire purifies believers
- The necessity of spiritual refining and breaking
- The role of God's Word as hammer and sword
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II
- Identification with Christ through crucifixion
- Being dead to sin and alive in Christ
- Transformation into Christ's reflection
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III
- The call to evangelism fueled by God's fire
- Preaching with authority and conviction
- Warning others to flee from worldly destruction
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IV
- Prayer for revival and spiritual awakening
- Burning away false religion and pride
- Living fully consumed for God's glory
Key Quotes
“Burn, burn, burn, so that all that's left is Christ's magnificent reflection.” — E.A. Johnston
“Make me a fireball in your hands. When I preach Christ and him crucified, burn conviction in the hearts of my hearers.” — E.A. Johnston
“Send a revival that will burn across this land like a prairie fire.” — E.A. Johnston
Application Points
- Surrender daily to God's refining fire to become more like Christ.
- Allow God's Word to break and transform areas of sin and worldliness in your life.
- Pray and labor fervently for revival and the salvation of others.