The Fire Of God Series

The Fire of God 101

Thesis: The fire of God must be kept burning in our lives because that is what helps to sustain our body, soul and spirit. His fire enables us to live a life of blessings but if we let the fire go out, we will not be able to survive. We must guard our hearts and tend to the fire of God in our lives.

Scripture Texts:

Leviticus 6:8-13: 8The LORD said to Moses: 9“Give Aaron and his sons this command: “These are the regulations for the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar. 10The priest shall then put on his linen clothes, with linen undergarments next to his body, and shall remove the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed on the altar and place them beside the altar. 11Then he is to take off these clothes and put on others and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. 12The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. 13The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

We also find this warning in the New Testament!

I Thess. 5:19: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire!”

Illustration- from survival shows like “Alone” “Port Protection” “Survivor” – I have noticed in watching these types of shows how the host emphasizes over and over the importance of being able to build a fire and keep it burning. Their emphasis is on the importance of fire to sustain life in the wild. Fire is essential for survival in this cold dark world! The fire of God is also essential in keeping our spiritual life alive and active for the Kingdom of Heaven. Fire is needed for physical survival and spiritual revival!

Introduction:

Life is sustained in the wild and in this world by fire – God’s fire also sustains our spiritual-soul and body in this life. It’s important to know about “The Fire of God” because it is linked to God’s presence and His Glory. Fire is important to life – Have church say, “We need the fire!” - it’s an essential element for life both physically and spiritually.

Most of us know physical fire keeps us warm, allows us to cook food, to boil water to purify it, it provides heat and light in the darkness. It can also be your distress signal in the wild. Fire can be used to defend yourself against wild animals in the wild. Fire is the most valuable resource for survival in this world in which we live. We need to make sure we know how to build a fire and how to keep the fire burning to sustain our physical needs.

In the Survivor Show if you don’t know how to build a fire you have already lost!

The key to survival in this world is fire and the ability to keep it burning is some knowledge we need to know.

But spiritually as well as physically fire is essential to our spiritual life and fire is spoken about in the Bible 549 times, and it used as a symbol of God’s presence, God’s glory (about 99x) and it is used in reference for a vibrant spirit filled life, it is used to burn up sin, it consumes the sacrifices to God, and it purifies the soul.

So, the Bible draws our attention to the importance of “The Fire of God!”

In the book of Leviticus God offerings are consumed by the fire on the altar - the fire on the altar was to be hot, fueled, maintained, cleaned out and used daily! God said in our text today 3 times to “Keep the Fire Burning!” “It must never go out!”

The lesson for today is “The Fire of God” should be burning on the altar of our hearts because today we are His temple - it’s “The fire of God” which sustains our spiritual life.

God uses the metaphor of fire often in Scripture to express the purpose of His holy fire! The Bible also tells me that God appears as of fire - like in the burning bush to Moses in Exodus 3.

Listen to some other verses about “The fire of God”:

• The Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God' (Deuteronomy 4:24).

• Exodus 24:17: To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

• Isaiah 66 says the LORD will come with fire.