Holy FireSample

PART THREE: Holy Fire

○ Acts 2:1-4 (NIV)

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

○ Hebrews 12:28-29 (NIV)

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

○ Exodus 3:1-6 (NIV)

Fire is consuming, burning, bright, hot. It is used to shape, refine, purify, consume, for heat, for light.

What we also know about fire is that it represents the presence of God in the Bible. For example, when Moses encountered God at the burning bush, and later when God appeared in a pillar of fire to lead his people in the wilderness. In Acts, the tongues of fire represent the presence of God the Holy Spirit.

But let’s zoom in on Moses and the burning bush story for a moment. Notice Moses’ location when he encountered God’s fire. It doesn’t say that Moses encountered the fire as he lay next to a lush green pasture near a cool, bubbling brook of water surrounded by lilies.

The Bible says that when Moses encountered the fire of God, he was in the desert. The desert is a dry place, the desert is a thirsty place, the desert is a lonely place. That is exactly where God chose to reveal himself to Moses through the burning bush.

We all go through difficult times; we all face trials. Maybe even now, as you read this, you feel alone without God’s presence. Perhaps you’re going through the most challenging wilderness you’ve ever experienced. There is good news for you: the drier the wood, the quicker it catches fire. God’s fire burns the best during desert seasons.

To ask for this fire to be uncontainable, uncontrollable is to say, “I don’t want to limit Your Spirit’s work in my heart. Have Your way, all the way.”

God is always present with his people by his Holy Spirit. But when you pray, ‘Spirit come” you are asking for an increased sense of the presence of God.

Defining moments and encounters happen when we encounter God’s holy fire. Maybe you haven’t realized it until now, but that is what your heart has been thirsting for.

So how do you press in for more?

Luke 24 recounts one of the most beautiful moments in Jesus’s ministry - the road to Emmaus, where two despondent disciples are transformed by an encounter with Jesus.

The scene opens with these two men on the road shortly after the crucifixion, lamenting the death of Jesus and their loss of hope. Jesus appears and walks alongside them, but they don’t recognize him. 

Then Jesus begins a Bible study, right there on the road: “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27).

Jesus was teaching them how to read and interpret the Bible. And his main point? “It’s all about me.”

Later on, when Jesus was gone, the two disciples talked about what they learned and how it affected them. “They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’” (Luke 24:32).

What caused fire to burn within them and what captivated their affections was the Word of God that put Jesus and His finished work front and center.

It is worship and the word that sets our hearts on fire. Because worship and the word puts Jesus front and center.

That’s how you can press in for more today. Worship and the word. He is waiting for you...