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Strong’s Concordance defines FIRE as “supernatural fire (accompanying theophany)”. Theophany is defined on Dictionary.com as “manifestation or appearance of God or a god to a person”.

Last night’s dream went like this. A group returning from an outing included a young boy who was about eight years old. The report about the child was that he had been unruly during the trip.

When a senior lady of the organization pulled the young man aside to discuss his behavior with him, he pulled out a cigarette lighter and began to flick it to light it. There were sparks, but no ignition – no flame – no Fire. Some how this action dramatically scared the lady and she ran off hysterically.

A second counselor of the organization had no success in getting the kid under control. Upon seeing this and as the boy continued to try and ignite the lighter, one of the male counselors of the organization shouted, “call the cops”. The counselor reconsidered though. The dream was over.

This dream comes on the heels of a revival meeting that I attended last night at a local church. The denomination was not apparent but there was a Baptist flavor present. As I believe it to be custom at revival meetings, the speaker was a visiting one. His scriptural reference was 2 Corinthians 12 — Paul’s thorn in the flesh.

Ministers of Churches such as this one are prone to flow into a method of preaching that is referred to as “hooping”. This service was no exception. Preaching of this type is soulical arousing the emotions of the folks. The “feel good” is short lived. Lots of flicking takes place but no Fire happens.

Given the title of this post, let me just say that I have come to know that there are two ways to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These are expository or expositional and Spiritual. Expository preaching in done in the strength of man and his knowledge of the Bible. The logos word (letter) is present but the Rhema Word (Spirit) is not. Lots of flicking but no fire.

Spiritual preaching in done in the Strength of or by the Anointing of Jesus Christ through and co-laboring with the man. Essentially It is God speaking, being tempered by an earthen vessel.

The Eternal Fire Himself is manifest empowering them that hear.