Message:
Our “God is a consuming fire”
Deuteronomy 4:23-24 KJV
23 Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden. 24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
The fire of God has made itself known to us throughout the Bible.
In the Garden of Eden it was the Flaming Sword of God that separated us from the presence of God. Genesis 3:24 KJV
Our sin had now separated us from our Creator.
On Sodom and Gomorrah the Lord rained down fire from Heaven to destroy those wicked cities. Genesis 19:24 KJV
Our cities were so sinful that God had to destroy them by fire.
Then it was a burning bush that drew Moses like a moth to the flame of God’s presence on Mount Sinai. Exodus 3:2 KJV
Our God loved us too much to abandon us without a deliverer from our sin and bondage.
The Lord was the pillar of fire by night that led them out of the slavery of Egypt and into the desert of Sinai. Exodus 13:21
Our God lights the way for His people and shows us where we should walk.
It was the fire of God’s own finger that wrote the 10 Commandments. Exodus 31:18 KJV
18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
This is what is being celebrated in Jerusalem today Shavuot the feast of weeks the countdown of 50 days from Passover’s feast of First Fruits. Our Jewish brothers and sisters know how to celebrate. The traditional food for them on this date is cheese cake to celebrate that God brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey. We brought some samples for you to enjoy.
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:8 NIV
Fire was used by an evil King in an attempt to burn away the truth of God and his servants.
19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
20 And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Daniel 3:19-20 KJV
But friends as the song I sang "He's Still in the Fire" tells us there was a fourth man in that fire. – Our God is a consuming fire
The flames did not even singe their hair nor did the fire burn their clothes nor was the smell of smoke found on them.
Saints today is a very special day in the life of the church for the fire of God has visited the people of God once more.
This time it is what seemed like tongues of fire above the heads of the believers.
Acts 2:3 KJV
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
The Living God had now entered into the body of the believer’s men and women and the Holy Spirit enabled them to speak in foreign languages.
There was also a very loud noise that accompanied this event like the sound of a rushing mighty wind.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee says in his Bible commentary "that is was like a thousand locomotives crossing at the same time in the same place."
Dr. McGee believes that the entire city of Jerusalem may have heard this sound and that is why so many were drawn to the place where the Disciples were staying and praying.
In any event they went out into the streets and spoke in these foreign languages and spoke the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to all who had gathered for the Feast of Shavuot from all the different nations of the world.
Each person heard the message of Jesus Christ in their own language and about 3 thousand souls were baptised and added to them that day.
Praise the Lord this was a great and wonderful event but friends God is not done with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
True the gifts of tongues is one of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit but St. Paul lists it at the bottom. 1 Corinthians 12 KJV
“All believers, as members of the body of Christ, must be serving together in order for the body to be fully-functional.
That is why a church needs pastors, teachers, helpers, servants, administrators, those with great faith, etc.
All of the gifts of the Holy Spirit working together are needed to produce the full potential of the church.
Since the gifts of the Spirit are gifts of grace, their use must be controlled by the rule of love - the greatest of all the gifts of the Spirit”
1 Corinthians 13 KJV http://www.allaboutgod.com/gifts-of-the-spirit.htm
Saints let us celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirt to every believer today by devoting ourselves to telling the world about Jesus our Savior.
Let the fire that is the fire of the Holy Spirit burn in you in such a way that the flames of love for the lost compel you to tell the story that “He’s still in the Fire” that our God is a consuming fire who saves souls from the fires of hell – Amen.
