What happens when the fire of the Holy Spirit burning within us begins to change the way we live outside the walls of the church?

In today’s message, “Internal Fire, External Focus,” guest speakers Chuck and Wilma Lormis challenge us to tend the fire God has placed within our hearts—and allow that fire to impact the world around us.

Chuck and Wilma serve as Missions Cultivators, helping local churches grow a heart for missions and encouraging believers to take part in reaching people with the Gospel both near and far. After decades of pastoral and missionary ministry, they now work to strengthen the missions foundation of the local church and help believers embrace their role in the Great Commission.

Beginning in Leviticus 6:12–13, Chuck points to God’s command that the fire on the altar was to be kept burning continually: “It shall not go out.” God started the fire, but the priests were responsible for tending it.

That same picture challenges us today. God ignites the fire, but we must continually tend our relationship with Him through prayer, His Word, worship, repentance, and time in His presence.

Wilma takes that picture further through Acts 1:8 and Acts 2:1–4, reminding us that the fire of the Holy Spirit was never intended to remain contained within us. The Holy Spirit gives believers power to become witnesses for Jesus.

Using the three elements necessary for a physical fire—oxygen, heat, and fuel—Wilma gives us a powerful picture of maintaining our spiritual fire. We need time waiting in God’s presence, the power and leading of the Holy Spirit, and a willingness to place ourselves on the altar and surrender our desires to Him.

But an internal fire must produce an external focus.

If the Holy Spirit is truly transforming our hearts, it should affect our families, workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, communities, and ultimately the world. As Chuck reminds us from Jeremiah 20:9, when God’s Word becomes like a fire within us, eventually we reach the place where we simply cannot hold it in.

What could happen if every believer began tending their own spiritual altar? What could God do through a church filled with people who arrive already hungry for His presence and ready to carry the Gospel beyond its walls?

As you listen today, lean in to what Chuck and Wilma have to share. Ask God to speak directly to your heart through this message. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything that may be weakening the fire within you—and give Him permission to rekindle it.

Today’s Takeaway: Don’t depend on someone else to keep your spiritual fire burning. Tend your altar. Seek His presence. Surrender what needs to be surrendered. Then take that fire beyond the walls of the church.

🔥 Keep the internal fire burning—and let it create an external difference.