Spiritual Experiences [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Allen Wright. To say that you want a God that's just made up and some little cute little God that's over on the side and all he is is just nice and sweet and does what you want him to do is to say you want a God that has no power over evil?

Who wants evil to reign? God is good. And there's a fire inside of God. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in our series called Moses as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It'll be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries.

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Here is Allen Wright. I called my mother, and I told her that I had experienced God and that I had been called into the ministry, and I couldn't tell her but for weeping. And for weeks and weeks after this, I couldn't even speak of the experience without weeping. Now, to me this day when I tell that story, again, if I were to get alone with God and just start thinking of it again, I would just start weeping just like it was. That's how real that is to me. Now, when I tell a story like that, if that doesn't fit your worldview, what are you going to do with that? Because there are really only two responses when somebody tells a story like that. You either go, well, I don't think Allen's crazy, and, man, if you can experience God like that, and he's that real, that changes everything. Or you go, I think Allen's crazy, and you'd have to say that basically I'm living my whole life out of a delusion.

I don't see any in between. This is what happened to Moses. Moses was minding his own business tending sheep, hiding in exile in Midian, not knowing that God had providentially arranged that he would be a Hebrew boy that was raised in the Egyptian court so he'd be the perfect one to be able to go and represent the Hebrew people and have an easy access to Pharaoh himself. He didn't know that God had already been hearing the cry of the Israelites. He didn't know all the plans of God. He's just tending his sheep, and he sees a bush that is burning but is not consumed, and he turns and he's fascinated to see such a sight. And God speaks to him, and essentially what happens is Moses has to decide either this is a delusion, either I'm going crazy, or I am experiencing God.

And if I'm experiencing God, this transforms every single thing about life, and my entire worldview has to change from this point forward. The bush. As Pastor Chris said last week, there weren't anything except for rocks and bushes there, and so it might not have been an unusual sight to see in an arid climate. A bush that had caught on fire, but it was a bush that was burning and was not being burned up. That was what was so interesting about that.

Remember that. It's on fire, but it's not consumed. On fire, but not destroyed.

Just on fire so it could burn brightly. It is an ordinary bush, but as preacher Tony Evans once said, if God is in the bush, any old bush will do. The power of the kingdom of God, the kingdom itself, Jesus said, is at hand. It's in the ordinary. It's here.

It's now. It's not somewhere off far away. You don't have to go some other place. You don't have to go to some exotic place or do something unusual in order to experience the presence and the power of God. He can be in any bush, and the bush is burning. The image of fire becomes an extremely important image, a metaphor about something about the nature of who God is. Many, many scriptures.

I give you a few of them. Deuteronomy 9. Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you, so you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly as the Lord has promised you. The image of the people of God taking the promised land and the power of God driving out the enemies, defeating evil, okay, is the image of God being a consuming fire. The image of God being a consuming fire is God destroying evil.

That's the first and the prevalent imagery. God shall arise, Psalm 68. His enemies shall be scattered, and those who hate him shall flee before him.

As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away. As wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God. The fire of God is the justice of God, the righteousness of God joined to the power of God, which will not let evil win. And I don't know about you, but I don't want a man be pamby God made up in our own image who has no firepower. He is the creator of the ends of the earth, and beloved, he is in charge of everything, and his will will be done, and one day every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord. To say that you want a God that's just made up and some little cute little God that's over on the side and all he is is just nice and sweet and does what you want him to do is to say you want a God that has no power over evil?

Who wants evil to reign? God is good, and there's a fire inside of God. See that's why we start singing that song this morning about no weapon that nothing shall stand against us.

I get so excited about it because there is substance to that. And then in Exodus 19 when Moses receives the law, when he gets the revelation from God, God comes down on the mountain as fire. And the people are told they cannot even touch the mountain, livestock cannot even touch the mountain unless they perish. They just tremble and the text says in Exodus 19 the smoke of it went up like smoke of a kiln and the whole mountain trembled. There's fire and there's trembling at Mount Sinai when God gives the revelation of his word the law.

It's really important for what we're going to see today. And then you start getting prophecies. Prophecies about the fire of God and what this means it becomes extremely intriguing. Isaiah says when you pass through the waters, Isaiah 43, you pass the waters I'll be with you and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you and when you walk through fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you. Sounds like a burning bush that's not being burned up. And then Joel, Joel in chapter two one of the most important prophecies in all the Old Testament. This is the chapter that's pointing to the day of Pentecost and he says let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day the Lord is coming it is near and he says that fire devours before them and behind them a flame burns so the imagery of fire is associated with the coming day of the Lord and later in Joel chapter 2 he says the famous words it shall come to pass afterwards then I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my spirit and I'll show wonders in the heavens and on earth blood and fire and columns of smoke and if you're wondering what is this day of the Lord what is Joel prophesying in which there's going to be there's going to be this fulfillment of all of these prophecies and it's going to come to pass if you wonder what it is all you got to do is look in Acts chapter 2 then you find out when the day of Pentecost arrived they were suddenly in one place and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind it's out like Mount Sinai all over again and it's filled the entire house where they're sitting and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance and later Peter stood up and preached the first Christian sermon and said this is that of which Joel spoke this is the day of the Lord this is the day of the of the Lord God the consuming fire coming in a new way in a new covenant oh fire fire is to the Hebrews is associated with the heart because the word for fire in Hebrew sounds like the word for heart fire lave and heart lave it is something happening inside of the heart that is being described at Pentecost and all of this was prefigured by the fire of God burning in a bush leading them by a pillar of fire descending down on Mount Sinai the power of God to quench and destroy evil and to ignite and empower his people see fire is different than other elements it's not like other things see if you touch water you affect the water you stir the water you move the water you touch clay you mold it into what you want it to be touch the air even and you can wave air molecules around but when you touch fire you don't change the fire the fire changes you that's alan wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series ever feel like something's holding you back as if you lack an important key that could change everything is there someone you love who seems stuck you'd like to help them but how what's missing blessing we all need a positive faith-filled vision spoken over our lives you can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing in your life and in your life you can embrace the biblical practice of blessing through pastor alan wright's new book the power to bless which quickly became an amazon number one bestseller after its recent release until now the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales but this month Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation make your gift today and discover the power to bless the gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries this broadcast is available because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastor alan.org today's teaching now continues here once again is alan wright when god spoke he was introducing himself to moses for who god really is i'm glad god is a fire i'm glad because if he's a powerful fire he's got power to change my life i love the scene in the silver chair one of cs lewis's chronicles of narnia when jill first meets aslan the great lion who is the figure of christ and she is thirsting nearly to death and sees the most beautiful stream but there's this big scary lion next to the stream and the lion speaks if you're thirsty you may drink the voice said again if you're thirsty come and drink it was deeper and wilder and stronger sort of heavy golden voice it did not make her any less frightened than she'd been before but it made her frightened in a rather different way are you not thirsty said the lion i'm dying of thirst said jill then drink said the lion may i could i would you mind going away while i do said jill the lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl and as jill gazed at its motionless bulk she realized she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience the delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic will you promise not to do anything to me if i do come said jill i make no promise said the lion jill was so thirsty now that without noticing that she had come a step near do you eat girls she said i have swallowed up girls and boys women and men kings and emperors cities and realms said the lion it didn't say this as if it were boasting nor as if it were sorry nor as if it were angry it just said it i dare not come and drink said jill then you will die of thirst said the lion oh dear said jill coming another step nearer i suppose i must go and look for another stream then there is no other stream said the lion it never occurred to jill to disbelieve the lion no one who had seen his stern face could do that and her mind suddenly made itself up it was the worst thing she ever had to do but she went forward to the stream knelt down and began scooping up water in her hand it was the coldest most refreshing water she'd ever tasted you needn't need to drink much of it for it quenched your thirst at once fire is a paradox you want to come near it and you're fascinated by it we put fireplaces in our homes and we don't even need them we make campfires and sit around and just watch the fire for hours i love to look at a fire i could just sit for hours and look at a fire we're drawn to a fire we're attracted by a fire but we also note if you don't watch it that fire could burn your house down it's an idea that was first expressed by a religious philosopher named rudolph otto who said when you experience the holy there is a mysterium tremendous and a mysterium fascinans there is a tremendous awe and a tremendous fascination this is the way it is with god he is so holy he is so powerful that there's a part of you that wants to just turn away like moses but there's another part of you that's like i need him i want him and what we have always longed for is a way to be able to get close to this fire without being consumed there are some ideologies that float around that make up a god that is not a fire that is just almost like a pet almost like some little cute cherubim almost like some little soft light that you can just get as an inner glow and and use as you want and there are other ideologies that paint god to be this fearsome judgmental god who has no room in his heart for any mercy and neither one is who god really is i tell you god's a fire he is both awesome and attractive he is both holy and merciful he is both a lover of justice and a dispenser of grace it has always always always been his heart to be the fire that burns brightly with power but does not consume and destroy us but how could he ever make a way for this to happen moses moses he says when in hebrew you repeat someone's name moses moses it is a term of affection jesus mary mary when you say moses moses he knew immediately that the one who was speaking to him was speaking affectionately and was not drawing him in by brute force nor by shame but by a winsome beauty and glory and yet moses wanted to look away from him and moses said how will i be able to tell him who it is what god is sending me and god said i'll tell you who i am i'm gonna announce my name to you i've never told anybody this before but i'm gonna tell you moses my name is i am who i am which means my name is not i am who you want me to be my name is i am who i am and if you want to know me then you must know me for who i am because nobody defines me i define myself do you want to meet me you will meet me on my terms tell them i am sent you i'm not like any of the egyptian gods i'm not used by people i am a fire people don't touch me and change me i touch people and change them i am is sending you and moses is not unlike not unlike jill standing next to a lion at a stream and not unlike i was kneeling by my dormitory couch there's just something inside of you that knows that i do want to know god for who he really is but how can i know that that fire will not destroy me and i'm here to tell you the gospel of jesus christ for this is what happened on the cross of jesus christ god in one person on this one cross else showed himself to be a consuming fire by no means excusing sin the god of justice and justice and fire and judgment that consumes wickedness came and burned in full fury against sin but that fire fell upon himself in the person of jesus and jesus became our sin so when you accept christ the fire of god has already burned up your sin therefore you can come to the throne of grace without fear you can come knowing that everything that god does in your life is now the fire that does not consume and you become a bush ordinary bush burning with the grace of god alan wright in today's teaching spiritual experiences unlock the power of blessing your life discover god's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for alan wright's free daily blessing if you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement get alan wright's daily blessing it's free and just a click away at pastor alan.org ever feel like something's holding you back as if you lack an important key that could change everything is there someone you love who seems stuck you'd like to help them but how what's missing blessing we all need a positive faith-filled vision spoken over our lives you can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through pastor alan wright's new book the power to bless which quickly became an amazon number one bestseller after its recent release until the very end of the year after its recent release until now the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales but this month Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation make your gift today and discover the power to bless the gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastor alan.org alan i think we've all been there uh whether it's a season of doubt or a season of desperation and and maybe someone is there right now and they're simply saying i long so much to feel the warmth that others seem to know lord make it real in my life lord show me yourself and this is really not unlike uh what moses was experiencing there and what the lord was teaching him yeah well you know daniel we say this often we don't we don't go on feelings we go on truth and so christianity is not a feeling it is a it it's a relationship any relationship you're in some you have feelings can be up and down but it is an experience christianity is not mental assent to a set of doctrines it is an actual experience of god and i just want to say that you know sometimes you go through those times in which you feel the presence of the lord in a palpable way and other times it seems like he's distanced but he's right there he's right there and i encourage you today to consider what the burning bushes might be all around you as i had quoted earlier uh tony evans said if god's in the bush any old bush will do sometimes in the most ordinary things of life maybe today in just an ordinary moment just let your heart be a little more sensitive a little more attuned to what god might be doing and maybe today is a day in which you're going to not necessarily have a huge life change that becomes in a sense of a burning bush but just you'll see something in the spirit that you hadn't seen before and when that happens this is god this is god who's meeting with you and being with you he'll never leave you and i pray that today you'll see him with fresh spiritual eyes following christ and being a christian is not um about adhering to a set of dogmas as important as our theology and doctrine might be but it is by its very nature it's an experience because we speak of it as a relationship well relationships are experiential it doesn't mean daniel that we go on feelings you know it doesn't mean we're relying on emotions that's not what we're talking about but we're saying that that the the christian walk is a walk with god and that is by its very definition experiential and that's what moses found out as we're discovering uh in in these messages that encountering god in this burning bush is encountering god in a way that um is an experience of god and that changed everything in moses's life so uh that's what we're learning about and especially i'm just interested in this image of the fire that burns but it doesn't consume the bush you know yeah what ways does god like the fire what is in what ways is experiencing god like experiencing fire that's some of what we're talking about today's good news message is a listener-supported production of allen wright ministries