Follow the Fire
Pentecost Sunday
From Emmanuel God
Patriarchs of courageous faith all pointing to Pentecost
Hebrews 11:1-2, 39-40 (NIV)
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for… These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Walking with God in the Garden of Eden
Restoration of the presence of God with us and in us
Learning from Moses to follow the fire
Three steps of courageous faith
1. Go Climb a Mountain
The call of God on Moses
Hebrews 11:23 (NIV)
By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child…
Tried to do it his own way in his own strength, lost his way
God continued to call him higher
Exodus 3:1-5 (NIV)
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Starts with us being called to and by something higher than ourselves
Fire on the mountain
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”
We are called to climb mountains
Sometimes it involves
Hebrews 11:17 (NIV)
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son…
Not your lamb - my lamb
Not your son - my son
Genesis 22:11-13 (NIV)
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
Jesus climbed a mountain for us
We are all called to lay something down on the altar
Moses had to lay down his shoes
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
Mountaintop experiences
Sometimes it involves
Not so easy the next time
Exodus 34:28 (NIV)
Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
Disciples waiting in the upper room
Sometimes it involves
Worshiping on the high places
What holds us back from climbing the mountains?
Exodus 20:18-21 (NIV)
When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
Send someone else
Turning to idols
Exodus 32:1 (NIV)
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
Sometimes we need to go up to the high place ourselves
2. Let Him In
It was never God’s plan to stay on the mountain
Exodus 26:30 (NIV)
Set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain.
The Tabernacle
He died on a
John 4:21-24 (NIV)
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”
Pentecost, fire in the room, not on a mountain
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[a] as the Spirit enabled them
Rested on them, in them
God wants to tabernacle in you
What holds us back from letting Him in?
Sometimes we want to stay on the mountain with God
Sometimes we want God to stay on the mountain away from us
Deuteronomy 5:5 (NIV)
At that time I stood between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.
Wanting to stay in control
We want the fire to stay on the stage
Everyone gets to play
Numbers 11:27-29 (NIV)
A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
All prophesy, all speak in tongues, all heal the sick, all filled with the Spirit
3. Go with the Flow
Following the fire
Exodus 13:21 (NIV)
By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.
What holds us back from going with the flow?
We try to keep God in a
God is leaving the building, will he leave with you?
Exodus 33:14-16 (NIV)
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
Blessed to be a blessing
Jacob’s dream
Genesis 28:12-14 (NIV)
He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
Every tribe, tongue and nation
The Holy Spirit has left the building
Acts 2:5-6, 17-21, 37-39 (NIV)
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken…Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: … “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy… And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ …When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Take it to the streets
Following the fire every day
Action Step: Be Filled with the Fire