Q&A Day Blog: "All Consuming Fire - FALL ON US?!"

Another "question we didn't get to on Q&A day but are not dodging it":

I'm confused. As believers, why do we sing a song in church asking for the consuming fire of God to fall on us? Deut. 4:24, Heb. 10:27-31, 12:29. The Holy Spirit, who indwells all believers, is our power source to live the Christian life. What are we trying to get from our God by asking for His consuming fire to fall on us, when we have everything we need for life and Godliness in Christ?

Good question! This has nothing to do with asking God for the Holy Spirit. Nor is this referring to any strange Pentecostal phenomenon being requested of God by the worshiper.

When the Bible talks about God’s fire consuming, as these lyrics are about, it is speaking of God’s personally and visibly receiving and accepting worship – resulting in the joyful praise that erupts from the one offering the worship!

A couple examples:

Leviticus 9:22-24 – Aaron gave the offerings, and after he and Moses blessed the people, fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the offering (God responding to worship), and the people shouted and fell on their faces (worshiping).

Hebrews 12:29 says for our God is a consuming fire. Seems pretty judgmental-scary by itself, but look at the context, the previous verse (28): Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe... then verse 29... for our God is a consuming fire.

Same principle. Let us offer acceptable worship - let God accept it!

See also 2nd Chronicles 7:1, where you will find the exact same sequence of events – Solomon dedicated the temple, prayed, and God’s fire consumed the offering.

The lyric is just simply an expression to mean "receive our worship".

Our elders asked “big Harvest”, those who wrote the song, and here is what they replied:

hey Mark,

the line from ‘do what you want to' is taken from Lev 9-22-24. There are many references to an all consuming fire in scriptures which admittedly confuses the issue. This one in the song is the consuming fire that accepted the meat sacrifice as an offering to God. How amazing must that have been for those people to see God appear and consume their offering to God. So awesome in fact that they lifted up a cheer to God. That is what we’re calling on in the song - for the spirit, the all consuming fire to receive our offering - the sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Blessings, andi

Pastor Jeff

-seriously, how awesome would that have been to see God's fire as a response to worship???

Are Ghosts Real? (Q&A Day Question!)

What do we think about ghosts? Is there a biblical basis for them, are they real?

The Bible teaches upon death, the person's spirit departs to glory or judgment. Read Jesus' account of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. This passage clearly demonstrates that when we die, we go to paradise (with Jesus and His redeemed, including Abraham) or to a place of suffering (as the Rich Man experienced).

There is simply no biblical basis for a person dying but their spirit staying and hovering around the earth, frightening people.

What about people who have seen ghosts or a similar unexplained phenomenon? They are either intentionally lying, innocently incorrect - or have encountered demonic activity.  

Is Debt Always Wrong? (Q&A Day Submitted Question We Didn't Get to But Are Not Dodging)

What does the church teach about debt? Is it always wrong or is it allowable sometimes?

The Bible gives a very clear warning about debt, in Proverbs 22:7 (NIV), “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”

Much more can be said, but Alex Giannetti will be discussing this very thing this Sunday! I wouldn't want to spoil it all here and leave people feeling like maybe they don't need to be at HBC on Sunday. :)

Well that was short. Maybe we should cover another question we didn't have time for on Q&A Day: 

Is it ok to lie to defeat evil? - Shawn#

No. The ends do not justify the means. Do not overcome evil with evil, overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). We are called to do the right thing, the God honoring thing, and He is the one who will defeat evil, anyways. He doesn't need us to do the wrong thing even if it looks like it will result in a good outcome. 

More "Q&A Day Questions we didn't get to on Q&A Day" coming next week!

Pastor Jeff

-really needs a better title for this blog mini-series 

How were the temple and priests purified in Ezra and Nehemiah?

In Ezra & Nehemiah, there is much talk about "purifying" the temple & the priests. How did that happen. Thank you.

Ezra 6:20 and Nehemiah 12:30 are examples of what the question is addressing. The Bible says purification was done with water and blood! In Numbers 8, we see the Levites were purified with the sprinkling of water, and in Hebrews 9:19-22 we see they did not just use water, but when they purified, they also offered sacrifices - and the blood of the sacrifice was used for sprinkling for purification.