Text: Hebrews 12:28-29, “(28) Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: (29) For our God is a consuming fire.”
Ancillary: 2 Timothy 1:6-7, “(6) Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. (7) For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
November 11, 1861: The burning of Guyandotte[1]
The Civil War hit home in the Cabell County town of Guyandotte on November 11, 1861. Union troops burned the town in retaliation over a raid pulled off the day before by Confederate cavalry.
Joe Geiger, who has written a book about the Civil War in Cabell County, says Guyandotte’s fate was the result of suspected collaboration with the Confederate raiders and the town’s secessionist reputation.
Geiger said, It’s not really clear exactly how many buildings were burnt. But practically the entire business section was burned and a number of houses as well.
It’s interesting to note Confederate sympathizers’ houses were not the only ones targeted. Many houses belonging to people of Union sympathies were burned as well.
In the fall of 1861, Guyandotte served as a hostile host to a Union recruit camp. The recruits weren’t able to put up much of a fight against the raiders. They were taken prisoner and forced to march to New Bern, Virginia.
According to Geiger, some of the animosity came about because of the march of the prisoners. It began at a full run. They were tied two-by-two with rope and were herded out of town. Apparently, quite a few of the Guyandotte secessionist women were dressed up with their aprons and were yelling at the prisoners and such. The march was very torturous…
The Wheeling Intelligencer newspaper called Guyandotte the “ornaryest place on the Ohio River” and said it ought to have been burned earlier.
That event is called
“The Burning of Guyandotte.”
I’m praying that another fresh fire will begin to burn in Guyandotte tonight and its flames will burn through the Tri-State.
One hundred years ago, In 1924, a Pioneer of the Pentecostal Movement, Lill Horton had a dream. She was in a Church full of stoves, but she was shivering with cold. So, she sought for an interpretation and this was what she received:
“There’s plenty of people (stoves) who need to have the fire of God kindled in them, but they do not have the Holy Ghost to kindle the fire. You need to go where the Holy Ghost fire is burning.”[2]
You are in a Church tonight where God’s fire and shekinah falls and fills the stoves of all who will willingly reach out to Him in faith, call out in repentance and praise Him with their whole heart.
Others in this room tonight have received the Holy Spirit of God, but you’ve allowed the flame to become a barely glowing ember.
You need to hear, heed, listen and obey Paul’s words to Timothy:
“(6) Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. (7) For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).
It is absolutely necessary that you stir the embers and bring forth a fresh fire tonight.
For 100 years there has been a fire in Guyandotte.
It started in Guyandotte and that same Holy Ghost fire is here tonight.
This campus in located at 350 Staunton Street in the Guyndotte section of Huntington…
But this fire I’m preaching isn’t confined to any street of section.
“Our God Is A Consuming Fire”
The fire of the Holy Ghost crosses rivers and bridges
Social divisions, economic disparities, prejudicial thinking, generational gaps
The Holy Ghost fire I am talking about is a cord of flame uniting every Spirit-filled believer together in their faith and experience:
“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13).
Our God is a consuming fire!
Look at our text: Hebrews 12:28-29, “(28) Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: (29) For our God is a consuming fire.”
This kingdom that began on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 (And when the day of Pentecost was fully come), placed in those 120 Holy Ghost divine power:
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
This kingdom cannot be moved.
It is built and established on a Rock – The Lord Jesus Christ – and the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it.
A consuming fire?
God in Christ is a consuming fire. Our Lord Jesus is “full of grace and mercy, yet He will appear in great wrath to His enemies, who will not let Him reign over them.”[3]
There is a payday someday.
So, we worship Him with reverence – a humility recognizing our unworthiness, and Godly fear – a desire from our most tender area of faith and affection not to offend God.[4]
Why? Although we see Him in this present church age as a God of mild majesty, He still possesses the tremendous power He displayed at mount Sinai, and one day, maybe tonight, He will break forth as a consuming fire against all those who violate His law and despise his gospel.[5]
I used the fire pit last night while cleaning out my garage,
The fire was hot, bright and even singed hair on the back of my hand.
The smoke got all over my clothes, my skin, hair, and even nostrils were full of the smoke…the lasting residue of the fire.
Paul told us what lasting effect the Gift, the fire, of the Holy Ghost has on us:
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).
- No Fear – no timidity, no cowardice, but boldness
- Power – a holy courage, dunamis, miraculous power, strength,
- “Power to encounter foes and dangers; power to bear up under trials; power to triumph in persecutions.”[6]
- Love – God & Man
- “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).
- Sound Mind – To think clearly. Discretion. The Mind of Christ.
- Philippians 2:1-11, (1) If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, (2) Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. (3) Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. (4) Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. (5) Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (6) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (7) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (8) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (9) Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (10) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; (11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
[1] http://archive.wvculture.org/hiStory/timetrl/ttnov.html#1111. Accessed: 1/28/2024.
[2] Mary H. Wallace. (1981) Pioneer Pentecostal Women (Vol. I). Word Aflame Press. 119-120.
[3] Hebrews 12:29. John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Albert Barnes.
The Pillar and Ground of Truth 