Fire may be the most misunderstood...and most "sermonized"...themes of Scripture.

In Pentecostal services...the norm is to present FIRE as some mystical appearance of the Holy Spirit...and the expectant "manifestation" most often leads the people to say:

"Didn't God show up and show out tonight!"

We must first note the portion of Scripture on which this spiritual "House of Cards" is erected.

John the Baptist is now preaching...the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3...being "the voice of one crying in the wilderness"...as John was anointed to "prepare the way of the Lord."

It is then that John addresses the Pharisees and the Sadducees...saying:

Matthew 3:11-12 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Most within the Church today will never continue on to properly contextualize Verse 11 by evaluating its words in light of Verse 12.

What was this "baptism" with "fire?"

John made it CRYSTAL CLEAR in Verse 12...as the FIRE is noted as a CLEANSING:

"...and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor..."

...and "He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

This is a PURGING...a REFINER'S FIRE...not some mystical "anointing" that basks in the glory of manifestational EXPERIENCES.

The fact is...FIRE will do only 1 of two things:

1. Cleanse/Purify

2. Destroy/Purge

In essence...FIRE will either PERFECT...or it will ERADICATE.

Where did the idea of FIRE as some manifestational EXPERIENCE gain its stranglehold on churches and "ministries" everywhere...and what is the DANGER in such doctrinal error?

If we examine Acts 1 and Acts 2...and we find the answer:

Acts 1:4-8 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus never promised "fire"...He promised the Holy Spirit...and the POWER to be "witnesses."

If you truly know Scripture...you fully understand the importance of those words...as the world the Disciples would soon face would be filled with HATRED and ANGER and TRIALS and TRIBULATIONS and PERSECUTIONS...and DEATH.

It would take a POWER unlike any other for men of God to withstand the onslaught of such persecution...and only those ROOTED in Christ...in the Word...would be able to STAND when all those around them WILTED in the HEAT of such OPPOSITION.

Then...we find this account in Acts 2:

(Verses 1-4) 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

What ACTUALLY happened here?

1. A SOUND filled the "whole house"...where they were "sitting."

No prodding nor pumping...no standing nor shaking...no hype nor hyperventilating...no "glory tunnels" nor "gold dust manifestations."

Just a group of people being OBEDIENT to Christ...waiting...tarrying...not for an EXPERIENCE...but for God...the Holy Spirit.

And...there was no "rushing mighty wind" that filled the room...ONLY the "sound from heaven"..." as of a rushing mighty wind."

No chairs blown over...no curtains messed up...no pictures catapulted off the walls.

Just a "sound from heaven."

Why just the "sound"...and not a "windy manifestation?"

Maybe we need to HEAR God before we can ever wish to EXPERIENCE God.

Sadly...today...we find MOST churches...MOST pulpits...and MOST pews...steeped in an "experience first" mentality...and the Word of God is seldom even heard above the ROAR of EXPERIENTIAL SPIRITUALITY.

Why must we HEAR the WORD before we "experience God?"

Because the Word of God is ESTABLISHED and SURE...yet an EXPERIENCE can be FAKED and HYPED and MISUNDERSTOOD and MISREPRESENTED...and it is from EXPERIENCE...NOT from the Word...that FALSE DOCTRINE is born.

2. "Divided tongues" appeared to them..."as of fire"..."and one sat upon each one of them."

What does the original text...and the above translation...reveal to us here?

"Divided tongues" refers to the fact that each one received a "different tongue"...and the passage clearly defines that truth as it says "and one sat upon each one of them."

As such...we find each one spoke a DIFFERENT language...and...that it was likened to the spreading of FIRE.

What the passage does NOT say is that actual FIRE appeared...nor that actual FIRE "fell" on anyone.

It seems a far cry from the norm today...as prayers of "Fire!" (I cringe as I even note that as some form of "prayer!" are heard in "altar services" around the world.

3. They were all "filled with the Holy Ghost."

Notice a VERY significant aspect here:

The passage does NOT say they were "baptized in the Holy Spirit."

I have written on this aspect before...and I will briefly summarize again the importance of this truth:

Jesus said they would be "baptized with the Holy Spirit." (Read again Acts 1:4-8 above)

In Scripture...Hebrew and Greek...BAPTISM is ALWAYS...ALWAYS...ALWAYS an IMMERSION into something.

Note this as you again read Acts 2:

Verse 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

The HOUSE was FILLED...thus IMMERSING those present in the Holy Spirit.

But...are we commanded by God to be continually IMMERSED...or to be continually FILLED with the Spirit?

Ephesians 5:8 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.

The lesson in all of this?

Note this truth:

An EMPTY vessel cannot remain IMMERSED in water...and neither can an EMPTY vessel remain IMMERSED in the Spirit.

We must remain FILLED with the Spirit if we are to remain IMMERSED in the Spirit.

You see...a vessel...such as a SHIP...that only travels ON TOP of the water will be TOSSED to and fro during the STORM...but a vessel that will stay IMMERSED in the water...like a SUBMARINE...will find SAFETY during the storm.

In truth...the Holy Ghost was not given for the POWER of MANIFESTATION...but He was given as the POWER to OVERCOME the STORMS of LIFE!

The Holy Ghost is LESS about TONGUES than He is about the POWER to be kept SAFE as we face OPPOSITION in this world.

And...TONGUES are about THIS:

4. "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:4)

But what was the PURPOSE of the "tongues?"

Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The POWER was given to make them "witnesses"...and TONGUES allowed them to BE witnesses to those they could not NORMALLY communicate with.

Think about it:

Jesus and the Disciples had been proclaiming TRUTH for the past 3 years...and MANY were unable to even COMPREHEND that message due to a LANGUAGE barrier.

When Jesus went away...He declared that the message of the Gospel would NOW be proclaimed BEYOND Jerusalem...BEYOND Judea...and to the "uttermost" parts of the world...to "the end of the earth."

This would ONLY be possible at that time in history if God performed a MIRACLE...and that MIRACLE occurred in Acts 2.

Men now heard the Gospel in their own language...and MANY began to be added to the Church...daily.

In all of this...we find the FOCUS always becomes the WORD...not the EXPERIENCE.

NEVER does Scrpture place the EMPHASIS on the FIRE...but it places the emphasis on the PURPOSE of the fire.

God ALWAYS...ALWAYS...ALWAYS uses FIRE to CLEANSE...to PURGE the people and the earth of SIN.

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

Revelation 21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

On that day...FIRE will PURGE those who were washed in the Blood of the Lamb...and fire will be forever CONSUMING those who have neglected so great a salvation...found only in Christ Jesus.

How often have we heard "Do not play with fire!"

Yet...today...MOST churches are PLAYING with "Fire!"...and...TRUTH is what is most often getting BURNED.

No matter how many people disagree...this will be TRUE:

God is not interested in providing for the Church an EXPERIENCE...He is interested in providing for the Church TRUTH...and that TRUTH should TRANSFORM us into the LIKENESS of Christ.

It is THEN...and ONLY then...that we will become WITNESSES...taking the Gospel to the world.

Too many churches are now SO busy "experiencing God" that they have become enamored with STAYING for the EXPERIENCE...while never GOING to spread the Gospel.

Too many churches are PLAYING with "Fire!"...and manifestational EXPERIENCES keep them TOO BUSY to really be ANY GOOD to God.

Church...if ever I have heard and spoken a message from God...it is this:

Quit SEEKING the FIRE.

"What, then, DO we seek?" you ask?

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

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