The Gathering
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Blog
Reflection · October 20, 2026
Tuesday Service · 6:00 PM
WHAT THE CHURCH NEEDS IS FIRE
Citizens of HEAVEN · Living on Earth
What does the church need? That is the question Apóstol David Rusi brought before the LORD — and the answer he carried back to The Gathering Church on October 20, 2026: the church needs fire. Not strategy, not entertainment — the fire of GOD. What the Church Needs Is Fire is his call to stir it up, keep it burning, and restore the altar.
Apóstol David Rusi
Twenty-six years pastoring, preaching since age seven — and he came to say one thing: the church does not need another strategy. It needs the fire of GOD. Are you stirred up — or just showing up?
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The Gathering Church is now on YouTube. Our services are available there as a new way for our church family and the wider online community to join us from anywhere, in addition to Facebook Live. Watch links are at the bottom of this post.
“I don’t want to preach just to preach. I want to preach what HIS heart is saying and what HE wants for the body of CHRIST. It’s your church, it’s not my church.”
Apóstol David Rusi opened Tuesday night’s message with his own question to GOD: what does the church need — more discipleship, more activities? Before he would answer, he did something worth copying: he silenced the noise. The internet, the podcasts, the opinions, the church-growth strategies — “tell somebody, there’s a lot of noise.” And in the silence, the HOLY SPIRIT spoke to him and said, “David, what the church needs is fire.”
Here is the tension Apóstol Rusi pressed on all night: the fire is already in you. 2 Timothy 1:6 says to stir up the gift of GOD — it is your job to fan the flame. A bonfire can begin with intense flame, but without fuel it diminishes to embers, and then to ash. The good news? GOD does not destroy the smoking torch — it still has hope of being lit up again.
“Is not MY WORD like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”
Jeremiah 23:29 (KJV)
The Question in the Silence: What Does the Church Need?
After twenty-six years pastoring, Apóstol Rusi says he is over preaching just to preach — over developing a nice message that gets people emotional and hyped up. He does not want a sermon series on how to be healthy, wealthy, and blessed. He wants to preach what GOD’s heart is saying. “What do you want me to preach? It’s your church, it’s not my church. What does your people need?” That question — asked in silence, away from every opinion — is where every true message begins.
And the answer came back as fire. Not a program. Not a strategy. Fire. The fire of GOD visiting a church, and that church cannot remain the same. Matthew 3:11 promises HE shall baptize you with the HOLY GHOST, and with fire. Luke 12:49 records JESUS saying, “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?”
“Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of GOD, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.”
2 Timothy 1:6 (KJV)
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“I don’t want to preach just to preach. I want to preach what HIS heart is saying and what HE wants for the body of CHRIST.”
— Apóstol David Rusi
Keep the Fire Burning: The Priest’s Daily Job
Leviticus 6:12 lays down the priest’s job description: the fire on the altar shall be burning — it shall not be put out. The priest had to keep that fire going, and it needed wood. As Christians, what is the wood that fans the flame inside us? Worship, praise, prayer. And the altar needed sacrifice. There are no more animal sacrifices — today, to keep the fire, we sacrifice our pride, our ego, our attitudes, our character.
That is why Apóstol Rusi said church is a funeral service — because every time we come, something has to die in us so something of GOD can be birthed inside of us. Prayer, then, is not a 9-1-1 emergency call; it is a conversation. And here is the promise that should stir every believer: the church that will make an impression in this world is a church that is full of fire. People can argue your theology, but they can never argue your experience.
“And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning.”
Leviticus 6:12 (KJV)
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“People can argue your theology, but they can never argue your experience.”
— Apóstol David Rusi
Restore the Altar, Then Pray for Fire — What the Church Needs Is Fire
When Elijah prayed for fire to come down from heaven, Apóstol Rusi reminded us, before he prayed he restored the altar — the altar that was ruined (1 Kings 18:30). Sometimes we want the fire to fall without restoring the altar. GOD wants us to restore our altar first: our life, our intimacy with HIM, our worship. Going back to the basics. Going back to the basics of HIS presence.
And then came the warning for the comfortable church. Apóstol Rusi said the church has been so focused on making people comfortable that we have made HIM uncomfortable. Revelation 3:1 describes a church with a reputation of being alive — but dead. The command to Sardis is our command: “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die” (Revelation 3:2). Yet there is a remnant — “a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with ME in white: for they are worthy” (Revelation 3:4).
“I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die.”
Revelation 3:1-2 (KJV)
How do we keep the fire from going out? Apóstol Rusi gave three daily measurements — holiness, hunger, humbleness. Holiness is not about long skirts and legalism; it is this: what hurts HIM, I want it to hurt me — and love what HE loves. Hunger means staying hungry for GOD: more of HIS presence, more, LORD, more. Humbleness means throwing away pride and ego, dying to yourself — because pride comes in many forms, not just haughtiness, but refusing to let HIM touch us or deliver us the way HE wants.
And one more priestly duty: take the ashes out. The priests had to keep the fire burning AND remove the ashes every day. Don’t let the ashes accumulate — the hurts, the pain, the situations. Keep your heart humble, holy, and connected with GOD. Close every door to the enemy. Renounce all sin completely. Guard your joy, because the joy of the LORD is your strength.
He closed with a prophetic word over The Gathering: the church is pregnant. The pains you feel are labor pains — Braxton Hicks before the birth — and “when the pains of birth start, it’s because you’re close to birth.” If you have been going through hell and high water, hold on: “We’re going to birth the greatest move of GOD.” Love y’all. Be blessed.
Watch the Full Sermon
Hear Apóstol David Rusi preach What the Church Needs Is Fire live at The Gathering Church — October 20, 2026. Watch on Facebook Live or, new for our church family and online community, on YouTube.
Reflect & Respond
The fire of GOD is already in you — your job is to stir it up. What is one thing you need to lay on the altar this week so the fire can burn again?
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