This sermon was taught by Pastor Don Hezlep our chief counseling pastor at the Christian Center Church.
SCRIPTURE PASSAGES (THAT CONFIRM GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE)
1. DEUTERONOMY 9:1-5
“Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities [a]fortified to heaven, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ 3 Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you.
4“Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before [b]you, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you. 5 It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the [c]oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
2. DEUTERONOMY 4:23-24
23 So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
3. EXODUS 24:15-18
15 Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.16 The glory of the Lord [a]rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.17 And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top. 18 Moses entered the midst of the cloud [b]as he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
4. HEBREWS 12:28-29
28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us [show agratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
KEY QUESTIONS:
DO YOU WANT GOD TO OPERATE AS A CONSUMING FIRE IN YOUR LIFE?
DO YOU WANT GOD TO BE A CONSUMING FIRE AGAINST THE DEMONIC POWERS AND EVEN THE DEVIL IN YOUR LIFE?
DO YOU WANT GOD TO BE A CONSUMING FIRE AGAINST THE PROBLEMS AND HEADACHES IN YOUR LIFE?
DO YOU WANT GOD TO BRING HIS SUPERNATURAL FIRE INTO YOUR LIFE?
SERMON OVERVIEW: OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE
I. WE NEED TO SEE HIM AS A CONSUMING, JUDGING, AVENGING, CLEANSING AND PURGING GOD. (FIRE – AS IN THE SIDE THAT CONSUMES AND DESTROYS)
II. WE NEED TO SEE HIM AS A PROTECTING, DIRECTING, GUIDING, ILLUMINATING, AND EMPOWERING GOD. (FIRE AS IN THE CREATIVE SIDE OF FIRE)
III. WE NEED TO BE AWARE OF WHAT HAPPENS TO US WHEN THE FIRE OF GOD GETS INSIDE OF US. (FIRE – AS IN THE PERSONAL SIDE)
I. WE NEED TO SEE GOD AS A CONSUMING, JUDGING, AVENGING, CLEANSING, AND PURGING GOD…(FIRE – AS IN THE SIDE THAT CONSUMES AND DESTROYS
I KINGS 18: 30-40
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord which had been torn down.31 Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” 32 So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two [a]measures of seed.33 Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood.34 And he said, “Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. 35 The water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench with water.
Elijah’s Prayer
36 At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.”38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.” 40 Then Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.
SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THIS PASSAGE
HERE’S WHAT THE LORD SPOKE TO ME ABOUT THIS PASSAGE AS IT RELATES TO ALL OF US.
GOD CONSUMED THE BURNT OFFERING.
GOD CONSUMED THE WOOD.
GOD CONSUMED THE STONES.
HE CONSUMED THE DUST AND THE WATER.
***HE CONSUMED ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING THAT NEEDED CONSUMED ON THAT ALTAR….EACH PIECE THAT WAS CONSUMED WAS A PART OF THE MIRACLE THAT HE WANTED TO PERFORM….THAT GOD’S PEOPLE NEEDED TO SEE AND EXPERIENCE.
HOW MUCH WAS CONSUMED? EVERYTHING!!!
HEARS WHAT GOD HAS BEEN SAYING TO ME FOR MONTHS AND I BELIEVE IS SAYING TO OUR CHURCH!
HE IS WILLING AND ABLE TO CONSUME ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING THAT NEEDS CONSUMED IN OUR LIVES. HOW? WITH HIS FIRE!! HIS FIRE IS SO REAL! HIS FIRE IS SO TANGIBLE! HIS FIRE IS SO NEEDED FOR HIS MIRACLES TO TAKE PLACE. HIS FIRE IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR REVIVAL TO FALL AND TO REMAIN. WE NEED HIS FIRE!!
HIS FIRE CAN CONSUME ALL OF OUR DOUBTS AND UNBELIEF!
HIS FIRE CAN CONSUME ALL OF OUR FEARS!
HIS FIRE CAN CONSUME ALL OF OUR ANXIETIES!
HIS FIRE CAN CONSUME ALL OF OUR SICKNESSES AND DISEASES!
HIS FIRE CAN CONSUME ALL OUR BAD HABITS, SINS, WEAKNESSES AND FLESHLY TENDENCIES… HIS FIRE CAN CONSUME ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING THAT WE HOLD ONTO THAT HE WANTS US TO LET GO!!
THE QUESTION IS: DO WE BELIEVE? DO WE WANT HIM TO CONSUME ALL OF OUR EVERYTHINGS? ARE WE WILLING TO LET HIM TOUCH ALL OF OUR LIVES WITH HIS ALL-CONSUMING FIRE AND NOT BE AFRAID OF GETTING BURNED?
OTHER SCRIPTURE ACCOUNTS THAT EXAMPLE THE CONSUMING, JUDGING, CLEANSING AND PURGING SIDE OF GOD:
WHEN ADAM AND EVE SINNED, (GEN.3:24)
LET’S NOT FORGET THE FIRE OF GOD THAT FELL ON THE CITIES
OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH (GEN. 19:24)
SEVENTH PLAGUE IN EGYPT WAS A PLAGUE OF HAIL AND FIRE FLASHING IN THE MIDST OF THE HAIL (EX.9:23-ff.)
NADAB AND ABIHU (SONS OF AARON) (LEV. 10:1-2)
THE PEOPLE OF GOD/ISRAELITES COMPLAINED OF SOME ADVERSITY/CIRCUMSTANCES THEY WERE IN (NUMBERS 11: 1-3)
II KINGS 1:1-16 – ELIJAH CALLED FIRE DOWN FROM HEAVEN UPON TWO CAPTAINS OF THE ARMIES OF SAMARIA
REVELATION 20 & 21– TALKS ABOUT THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE
II PETER 3:7 “BUT THE PRESENT HEAVENS AND EARTH BY HIS WORD ARE BEING RESERVED FOR FIRE, KEPT FOR THE DAY OF JUDGMENT AND DESTRUCTION OF UNGODLY MEN.”
II. WE NEED TO SEE GOD AS A PROTECTING, DIRECTING, GUIDING, ILLUMINATING, AND EMPOWERING GOD!!
THE ISRAELITES WERE PROTECTED AND DIRECTED BY THE PILLAR OF FIRE BY NIGHT (EX.13:21)
MOSES AND THE BURNING BUSH (EX.3: 1-22)
THE ANOINTING IN THE TABERNACLE – THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED THE TABERNACLE – THERE WAS FIRE IN IT BY NIGHT, IN THE SIGHT OF ALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL (EX. 40:34-38)
THE ANOINTING IN THE TEMPLE – THE GLORY CLOUD FILLED THE HOUSE OF THE LORD SO THAT THE PRIESTS COULD NOT STAND TO MINISTER BECAUSE OF THE CLOUD, FOR THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED THE HOUSE OF THE LORD
JESUS: BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND FIRE (MT.3:11)
DAY OF PENTECOST: TONGUES OF FIRE (ACTS 2:1-4)
III. WE NEED TO BE AWARE OF WHAT HAPPENS TO US WHEN THE FIRE OF GOD GETS INSIDE OF US! PERSONALLY!!
ONE MAN OF GOD SAID THIS YEARS AGO, PERHAPS YOU HAVE HEARD THIS QUOTE AS IF IT COMES FROM JOHN WESLEY, BUT MANY SCHOLARS DO NOT BELIEVE THAT HE IS THE ONE WHO ACTUALLY MADE THIS STATEMENT (WHO CARES – IT’S A GREAT ONE TO LIVE BY):
“SET YOURSELF ON FIRE WITH PASSION AND PEOPLE WILL COME FROM MILES TO WATCH YOU BURN.”
JEREMIAH SAID IN LAMENTATIONS 1:13, “FROM ABOVE HATH HE SENT FIRE INTO MY BONES”
JEREMIAH SAID IN JEREMIAH 20:9 “GOD’S WORD WAS IN MY HEART AS A BURNING FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES.”
WHAT HAPPENS TO US WHEN THE FIRE OF GOD GETS INSIDE OF US?
CONCLUSION