Tag: fire
Don’t Insult the Spirit of Grace!
Scripture reading for October 27: Hebrews 10
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He Who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of Grace?” Hebrews 10:23-29
The writer of Hebrews encouraged the Jewish believers to stand firm in their confession of hope in the New Covenant through the blood of Jesus. God said, “I will” and He is faithful. We should also consider how to encourage our brothers and sisters to stay true and continue in love and good works that result from faith. This included regular church attendance, which some had made it a bad habit of skipping. As judgement Day approaches our faithfulness to meet together for encouragement is necessary.
The subject of willful sinning in the face of the knowledge of the New Covenant was addressed. The writer of Hebrews warned the believers that to continue in sin willfully against God’s Word and the discipline of church leaders was a fearful thing. He likened it to trampling under foot the Son of God and profaning the blood of the covenant that had cleansed them of sin. He warned that there would be no sacrifice available for them. Their actions would ‘outrage the Spirit of Grace’ Who had sanctified them. Our salvation is secure in Jesus Christ but our willful choices can take us into dangerous territory. All the more reason to gather together all the more as the Day of judgment comes closer.
As you look at your current spiritual life, do you regularly gather with God’s people for worship, the Word, and prayer? In looking at your current life, are you engaged in any willful sins that are taking you into dangerous territory? As you see that judgment Day is approaching, are there changes you should make?
Prayer: Father God, thank You for Your great patience and mercy with all who willfully sin. Help me to see any changes that I need to make and to find mercy through the Spirit of Grace. Use me to encourage believers to meet together and build each other up to love and good deeds. We see the Day coming soon! Amen.
Rebuked by Jesus
Scripture reading for March 14: Luke 9
“When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem. And He sent messengers ahead of Him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for Him. But the people did not receive Him, because His face was set toward Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.” Luke 9:51-56
Jesus had been consistently revealing to His disciples that He was going to Jerusalem where He would die and be raised on the third day. As the time drew near, He ‘set His face’ towards Jerusalem. He saw His destination and divine purpose clearly. The disciples still did not see as Jesus saw. (Luke 9:44-45) Their minds were still set in the Jewish culture and their religious understanding from the Law and Prophets. Jesus chose to go to Jerusalem through Samaritan territory. His ministry was to all peoples and nations. But the Samaritans were a mixture of Jewish and Gentile backgrounds. There was jealousy and religious hostility in their culture, and they refused hospitality to Jesus and His disciples because they were Jews going to Jerusalem for Passover.
James and John, the messengers sent by Jesus, were indignant over the religious attitude of the Samaritans in refusing hospitality. They went to Jesus with a proposal–calling down fire on these Samaritans and destroying them on the spot! They likely got this idea from the prophet Elijah who called down fire on his enemies. (2 Kings 1:10) The forgot Jesus’ teaching to love your enemies and do good to them or just to leave and shake the dust off as a witness against them. (Luke 9:5) Jesus rebuke them and they went to another village that would receive them. Adopting Jesus’ worldview often takes time and some failures can be teaching points!
Have you ever wanted to get even with someone who has mistreated you or your family? Have you tried to use Scripture to justify your attitude or actions? Are there actions that you need to take in repentance to adopt Jesus’ worldview?
Prayer: Father God, forgive me for wanting vengeance on those who have mistreated me. Thank You for rebuking me when I have wrongly used Scripture to justify my attitude or actions. Teach me to love my enemies and do good to those who mistreat me. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Amen.
“Fire in the house!”
Scripture reading for September 11: Amos 1-2
Fire is a devastating force when not properly controlled and utilized. It has the capacity for great good and also for brutal destruction. I was helping an uncle shell corn at his farm about 6 miles south of our farm in Iowa. I was a young farmer and had started farming with a small hog herd and had about 25 sows (mother hogs) with their babies in a building. It was winter time and we were using heat lamps and furnaces to keep the hog building warm. One of the lamps must have fallen onto the straw, and a blaze erupted that swept through the building. I remember hearing the call to come home from my distraught aunt. “There’s a fire in the hog house!” I arrived home to find a charred building and some charred animals! It was devastating and caused great anguish to me and loss of my precious animals!
Amos was a fig (not pig!) farmer and shepherd who was called to be a prophet. (Amos 7:14-15) The reading today contains several warnings of “fire in the house!” These warning were to nations and peoples surrounding Israel and I imagine God’s people were probably cheering as their wicked neighbors were warned by God. (Amos 1:4, 7, 10, 14; Amos 2:2) God, however, is no respecter of persons and we as people all have the same malady at our core: sin. Amos also warned Judah and Israel that they also had fire coming to their houses as well! (Amos 2:4-16)
Sin brings God’s wrath and fiery judgment. God hates sin because it is totally foreign to His nature of love. But our God is very merciful! He always warns His people of their sins and even provides a way of escape for them. (1 Corinthians 10:13) He wants no one to perish but all to come to repentance and deliverance. (Amos 3:7) This is why He sends the prophet, preachers and saints to testify of His mercy and grace and warn of coming judgment!
Our nation is saturated with the gospel! We have more churches, preachers, and radio and television preaching than anywhere else in the world. To whom much has been given, much will be required! The Gospel warns people that there is ‘fire in their house’ and provides a Savior who took the fiery wrath of God against our sin. The Gospel offers us a new form of fire in our house, the precious Holy Spirit! This ‘fire’ is redemptive and empowering to the humble and teachable. It gives us power to live free from sin and to take the Gospel to those who have the wrong kind of fire in their house. Take time today to thank the Lord for His mercy and ask Him to refill you with holy Fire to share God’s love for the lost!
“Fire and Hammer”
Scripture reading for August 8: Jeremiah 21-25
“Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has My Word speak it faithfully. for what has straw to do with grain?” declares the Lord. “Is not My Word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:28-29
As young Christians, we attended a church that learned Scripture through the worship songs. A lady named Laura, playing an autoharp, taught us worship from her King James Bible. One of the songs was from these verses in Jeremiah. It was a catchy tune and my younger son Marshal picked it up and was always singing it. It is interesting to note that Marshal is preaching God’s Word today!
Jeremiah had to deliver some hard messages to his own peers in the ministry of that day. He spoke a Word to the shepherds of that day, accusing them of scattering the sheep and destroying them. (Jeremiah 23:1-3) The shepherds were the kings of Judah, and he warned them repeatedly of coming woe and trouble, but few appreciated his warnings! (Jeremiah 22:11-12) He declared God, Himself, would raise up a ‘righteous Branch’ from the line of David who would restore justice and save the nation. (Jeremiah 23:5-6) This righteous King would bring God’s people out of captivity in the lands where they would be scattered and bring them into their own land. (Jeremiah 23:7-8)
The godless priests and prophets were the cause of the people going astray. They committed adultery and lived a lie. They prophesied by Baal, the false idol of the Canaanites and led the people astray.(Jeremiah 23:13-14) They told people who were living in sin and stubbornness that they would have peace when God’s Word said they would have trouble. (Jeremiah 23:16-17)
Jeremiah understood the Word of God as a Fire. As fire would burn out the dross to refine the metal and burn up the chaff, so it would refine God’s people. Jeremiah saw God’s Word as being a Hammer that could shatter solid rock. Hardened hearts would be broken by this Hammer. Jeremiah’s heart was broken and his bones trembled at the thought of God’s holy Words and their supernatural power. (Jeremiah 23:9)
“Don’t do this wicked thing”
January 8th Scripture Reading: Genesis 18-20
An ongoing debate and cultural war is going on in our society concerning gay and lesbian rights and gender identification. From today’s reading, we get insight into how God feels about this sort of activity in a city or country. He has ordained marriage between a man and a woman. He made them male and female. But disobedience to the clear command and purpose of God, always brings consequences. He is merciful to all who will listen and obey but will judge unrepented sin and rebellion. Sin’s outcry reaches heaven and God’s ears. The righteous cry out for deliverance and justice and God responds!
In response to the reports of wickedness that had reached heaven, God sent two angels to Sodom to rescue Lot and his family before judgment fell. As these angels were visiting with Lot, the men of Sodom came knocking on Lot’s door, demanding to have those visitors (the angels appearing as men) for their own sexual pleasure. Lot pleaded with them, “Please don’t do this wicked thing.” (Genesis 19:6) But they violently began to break down his door. The angels intervened, pulled Lot inside, and struck the men outside blind. They warned Lot to gather his family and leave because God would soon destroy that city.
The saddest note in this story is when Lot tried to warn his son’s-in-law about the coming destruction and they thought he was joking! (Genesis 19:14) Lot had moved to Sodom with great riches. He apparently tolerated the wickedness and even failed to help his own daughters find believing mates. When the angels warned of the coming destruction, he delayed. As they finally left, his own wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt! Jesus used this as a warning to His disciples and us! {Luke 17:32)
Are you aware of the warnings from God’s Word? Are you warning those involved in the “sin of Sodom?” Are you careful to vote for godly men and women who will listen to God’s Word on this subject?
“Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah–from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19:24-26
“The Day of Judgment”
January 3rd–Genesis 6-9
As we read the story of Noah and the flood, let’s listen for God’s heart. God saw that the man that He had made in His own image had turned to rebellion instead of the intimate walk of faith God had planned for him. God’s heart was grieved and filled with pain because of man’s choices. Every thought of mankind was evil and God’s wrath and His judgment would result. But one man found grace! .
“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” (Genesis 6:8) God’s eyes are always looking for a way to show favor and mercy! His eyes are looking for any who would humbly believe His Word. He would much rather save and bless them. God revealed to Noah His plans for judgment of a wicked mankind and a polluted earth. He gave specific instructions for saving Noah, his family, and the animals. Noah did everything just as God commanded Him.” (Genesis 6:22)
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the 17th day of the second month–on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of heaven were opened.” (Genesis 7:11) God did exactly what He said He would do on a specific day in Noah’s life! Jesus taught that it would be just like the days of Noah when God would again judge the wicked of the earth. (Matthew 24:36-39) This final future judgment would be by fire! The only way of salvation is to believe in Jesus Christ!
Do you find it hard to believe in the account of the flood and God’s judgment? Why do you think that God emphasizes this story through the prophets, apostles, and Jesus Christ Himself? Does your heart burn to know Him better through this story of Noah and his amazing salvation?
“By these same waters the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” 2nd Peter 3:6-7
The future is guaranteed!
Scripture reading for November 28th: 2nd Peter 3, Psalm 87, Proverbs 20
2nd Peter 3:`10-13 “But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming Day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
Peter’s closing letter to the Church of Jesus Christ was a bold statement of what the future ‘Day of the Lord’ would be like. No one of the world would know its coming–like a ‘thief’ was the description. But believers can be assured of what will happen because God has decreed it in His Word. The heavens and earth will be dissolved and renovated by fire at that appointed Day. Because of the certainty of this day coming and it’s destruction, believers should be motivated to live holy and godly lives while they wait for the promised ‘new heavens and new earth’, the home of eternal Righteousness in Jesus’ reign as King of Kings on Mt. Zion, the eternal City of God in the New Jerusalem. Only through God’s Word can man know with certainty the future!
Psalm 87:1-3 “On the holy mount stands the city He founded; the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God.” (Selah)
Prayer: Father God, thank You for the settled certainty that comes through trusting Your Word concerning future events. Your amazing plans are eternal and settled in heaven by Your Word and glorious power. Thank You for directing our steps into the Way of Christ and faith. We as believers are looking forward to Your rule as King of Kings in the City of God and enjoying the new heavens and new earth for ever!
Proverbs 20:24 “A man’s steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?”
Good news: mercy and justice!
Scripture reading for June 30th: Luke 3, Psalm 130, Proverbs 6
Luke 3:15-18 “As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all saying, “I baptize you with water, but He Who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of Whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” So with many other exhortations he preached Good News to the people.”
John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, created a stir among the people and religious authorities. His preaching called people to repentance and to baptism or washing of filth in expectation of the coming Messiah. This Messiah, according to John, would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. He would come to bring in the harvest of souls from the earth, symbolized by a winnowing fork, a tool that was used to harvest the wheat. The wheat would then be beaten on the threshing floor to remove the chaff. The Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, cleansing all sin and creating a new life. Sins would not only be forgiven, but consumed completely because Christ paid our penalty for sin. This message was “Good News” for sinners who were humble enough to repent!
Psalm 130:3-4 “If You, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be feared.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for Your great mercy in sending Your Son to take the fire of judgment for broken law on our behalf on Calvary’s cross. Thank You for Jesus Christ, our Messiah, providing us with an inner baptism of the Holy Spirit and cleansing us with Holy Fire from Your altar of mercy. But for Your mercy, we would be consumed in the fire of judgment as chaff instead of gathered into Your Barn!
Proverbs 6:27-29 “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.”
Preaching ‘Good News’
Scripture reading for March 15th: Numbers 30-33, Psalm 35, Luke 3
Luke 3:15-18 “As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but He Who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of Whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.”
John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin, born slightly before Him. John was called by God to be a prophet and to prepare the way for Jesus Christ. In doing so, He confronted the sins of the people and called them to repentance and to baptism as an act of cleansing. This preparation was not the end, but the entrance into a new relationship with God. Jesus Christ would complete the work necessary for the cleansing of all mankind from sin and its power on the cross through offering His body and blood. He would take the keys of death and hell from Satan and open the curtain for all who would believe to be in God’s presence. He would baptize His followers with the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Father, and fire to deeply cleanse and empower them. This all was amazing ‘good news!’
Numbers 31:21-23 “Then Eleazar the priest said to the men in the army who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses: only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, and everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean.”
Prayer: Father God, I thank You for preparing the way for Your Son to bring salvation to me and all mankind. I know that my faith through Your grace has brought salvation. Repentance too is a gift of grace received humbly by faith. Help me to share the ‘good news’ with those headed for the fire of Your judgment, that they might receive the gift of eternal life and be filled with the Holy Spirit and holy fire.
Psalm 35:27-28 “Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the Lord, Who delights in the welfare of His servant!” Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.”
The Cloud of Glory and Fire!
Scripture reading for March 7th: Numbers 8-11, Colossians 1
Colossians 1: 9-13 “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”
When you love someone, you want to please them. Pleasing the one you love requires that you get to know them. When the One you love is God, getting to know Him Who is infinite, is a daunting task and knowing how to please Him is challenging. Paul’s way to help the believers at Colossae, was to pray for them to be filled with a knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. This kind of understanding can only come by revelation through the Holy Spirit. This is the light of God’s Truth. This is the only path to pleasing God and bearing fruit in good works. God supplies the knowledge of His will and then empowers us through the Holy Spirit to grow and produce fruit. This is the fire of God’s glory in us. To God be all glory for qualifying us to share the inheritance of the saints in light!
Colossians 1:15-17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Prayer: Father God, as Your child, I want to please You! Fill me today with a deeper knowledge of Your will and give me spiritual wisdom and understanding to bear fruit for Your glory. Strengthen me with power in my inner man so that I might have patience and endurance as I run this race of faith. In You all things were created and they all hold together. Lead me with Light and Fire!
Numbers 9:15-17 “On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped.”