Summer at City
A Consuming Fire & An Unshakeable Kingdom
Hebrews 12:25-29
25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”




Deut. 4:24 ESV
"For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."


Consuming: completely filling one's mind and attention; absorbing.


"It's not that we don't want God; it's that we've found a thousand things we want more than God." - Ravenhill


God's fire produces missional clarity


“yet there is a spiritual force which may well be described as a shaking. It is only when the tree of the nation has a thorough shaking, that at last the prime, ripe fruit will drop down into the great Master's lap. He shakes by Providence, by the movement of the human conscience. He shakes by the impulses of his Holy Spirit; he shakes the human spirit, and as a result persons out of all the nations are brought to himself. Stones that he would have, come at last out of the quarry, and he builds them up into a temple.” -Spurgeon


Haggai 2:6-7 NIV
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty"



Chemdah: the desire/desired of all nations 2:7b


Revelation 5:9 NIV
"And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation."


Titus 2:13-14 KJV
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous for good works"


God's fire emphasizes eternal stability v28a.

Questions:
Are you building your life on the unshakable Kingdom?
Does the way I'm living my life in this moment make sense in light of eternity with Jesus?


God's fire propels us towards intimacy v28b