Destruction by Fire? We Will Survive Through The Fires!

Destruction by Fire? We Will Survive Through The Fires!      Kelly Durant   8-20-17

Matthew 25:41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

2. Fire is one of man’s basic needs! Have you ever thought about that? God created all things and the purpose of fire is to provide all humanity with light an warmth, pleasurable smells, a means to cook food, and a way to purge for refining elements such as gold. People would not survive without fire!

Fire contained and controlled on a stove, or within rocks at a camp serves its purpose and no one fears its destruction when they know it is treated with respect and managed properly. And by law all buildings must have fire extinguishers as any out of control fires must be contained immediately. Thank God for firemen in fire departments! Many of them are volunteers!

A fire can even be beautiful to look at! I recall when I was 16 and worked in a brass factory after school drilling holes and sanding parts for oil rigs and there was a refinery section that refined copper. The fires escaping the oven doors were a beautiful emerald green! Different elements burn different colors.

3. I think most of you know why I am talking about fire, it is because once again our Family Store was attacked with fire. The huge dumpster was set on fire and all the contents burned with a column of smoke so large the whole neighborhood knew about it!

Thank God for the firemen who soaked it and soaked it again and again with water put the fire out! I think firemen deserve more respect than what is often given, their job is never an easy one, and their bodies are always at risk to suffer major harm and pain.

But out of the 4 fires set at our place so far, only one really did any damage, this one did not affect the Store in anyway and we see God’s hand of protection! So everyone wants to know, who is doing this and why? Well, anyone who plays with fire at this level knows they are committing a felony and risking getting locked up for many years, so whoever is doing it is either blindly full of hate, drugged and crazy, or just malicious by nature with a demon. When we see destruction be know the destroyer is the one behind it influencing his subjects to carry out destructions.

4. Some demon possessed people have an appetite for destruction and they get their subjects to harm themselves and others by fire. There was a disturbed boy that Jesus healed who was always in danger by fire.

Mark 9:21-23 21 And he (Jesus) asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. 22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. 23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

People who tend to destroy, be it others or themselves, can be healed by prayer and a touch of Jesus! How many bad people have we seen get healing and a new start in life? The evidence is in the testimony of millions of Christians is that Jesus can take away in anyone the desire to harm, destroy, burn, or even murder. Those who do such destructive things are in tune with Satan as he is the destroyer. 

 John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

5. How many of you have every suffered a burn? I think most of us have and it is very painful. Let me share some good news with you, after you pass on, after Jesus returns, in your new resurrected body you will not be able to be burned! Fire will have no power over you.

Isaiah 43:2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

Isn’t that amazing! Even in our Biblical history we know about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who could not be set on fire and burned by the evil king of Babylon who demanded everyone worship Him as the supreme God. Don’t we see this despotic desire in dictators today? They want to be worshipped as god when they are full of the devil always ready to imprison and kill opponents, while stealing to be rich. Those who disagree with their oppressive, anti-Christ politics are always persecuted.

6. Satan over and over does get away with harming innocent people by fire. A horrible example we know of are those who invade by war, burning everything so no one can survive to fight back. This has not only happened in the recent 2 devastating world wars, but has always been a destructive tactic of war. The entire city of Atlanta was burned to the ground in the civil war and it pains me to read how wars, conflicts, and political ideologues brings out the worst in people so that they are hell bent on destroying others horrifically burning their food and shelter!

But here is something I know, God is the one who gets revenge! Listen to this verse. Revelation 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Our patience is that people will pay for what they do!

And in the final days, God will raise up 2 witnesses and they will have power to destroy those that are of the devil with fire. Revelation 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

7. Fire is God’s tool! The devil uses it but only for temporary victories. Hell, most often is referred to as a place of destruction with eternal fires. It was known in Jerusalem as Ghehenna, the garbage dump of the city where fire was burning 24/7 to burn up dead bodies and trash. Fire does destroy germs and bacteria and that is essential to our human survival. But spiritually, fire is God’s method of purging souls and often it is symbolic referring to being refined in the spirit.

Jesus warned of hellfire often, but many modern day preachers will not even mention this fact. The verse of today warns of the future of those who are evil: they will face hell’s eternal fire when judged!

Matthew 25:41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: (Let’s continue in context)

Matthew 13:42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

8. We must warn others of hell and of destruction by fire! It is a reality that rebellious contaminated evil souls will have to be thrown into God’s burning garbage dump when the judgement comes. Hell was originally created only for Satan and his rebellious angel followers, but the demon possessed, murderers, and all evil unrepentant proud God haters will be sharing hell with these other punished devils who come from all history.  

You know that in order to prevent forest fires park managers will set controlled fires to burn away all the leaves and brush that could blaze up to allow a big fire. In other words, without a controlled purge, there is danger that a fire could destroy the whole forest! It is the same with us! We need purging!

When a person is born, they are harmless and innocent but over time the world contaminates them with sin. Only Jesus can clean our sins away and purge our souls before the judgement time. I invite you today to ask Jesus to purge you of any sin, and deceitfulness, of any lust and greed, of any self-righteousness and hypocrisy, of any wrong.

9. God’s fire is good, it may temporarily hurt as it purges us, but in the end it saves and purifies! The Salvation Army lives by its slogan, ‘blood and fire”. We need the blood of Jesus to forgive our sins and then we need the fire of the Holy Spirit to purge away the desire to sin!

If we do not allow God’s fire in our lives now, later we will be faced with the fires of hell! Warn others about fire! Do you recall when the story of Jesus of the rich man who went to hell and begged for water but got none and he wanted to come back to life to warn others of the fire?

But Jesus replied, John 16:30 And he (the man in hell) said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he (Jesus) said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

We believe Jesus! He rose from the dead and we will escape God’s judgments by fire if we get His purging fires in our lives today. Ask God for His fire today! Ask to be Holy Spirit renewed and on fire for God!

    

How Far Does Your Loyalty Go?

How Far Does Your Loyalty Go?                         Kelly Durant   8-13-17

John 6:48-68

48 I am that bread of life.49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. 59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you 62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. 65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. 66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

2. Loyalty is something that money cannot buy! It is what everyone wants but what few want to give! Loyalty will choose that which costs more over that which is easy and costs less! Do you know people loyal to causes?

When I was a teenager I worked for Mrs. Thomas, a woman who was kind hearted to all the unemployed teenagers in the neighborhood, and I would cut her grass, paint her houses, repair her roofs, etc. And 2 times I recall she sent me to the other side of town to buy some pricey brooms from a strange little store that only sold brooms.

It turned out that this store only sold items made by blind people. She was a loyal customer and bought from them every year because she got the satisfaction that she was helping someone by investing in them, and not in some wealthy chain store where most people shop. It cost her more, but take a closer look, her loyally, along with that of others, were giving blind people dignity and keeping them employed!

3. The scripture today is Jesus representation on how we must take Him in totally, as we take in bread, to really be a part of Him! Of course, the last super with his disciples consolidated this new pact in his body, the bread, and his blood, the wine, and it was then the disciples fully understood this teaching on the symbolism. There are very many aspects to this particular passage, but today we will focus in on loyalty.

In scripture (vs 66) we find that Jesus at one time had many disciples, but after this teaching, they all left except the 12! Where did these disloyal ones go? To follow the Jews again, to follow John the Baptist? Or just to be lost with no guidance amongst the pagan religions!

It really doesn’t matter where they went because they no longer made history, they lost their connection with the truth teacher, Jesus, and most probably they lost salvation, or eternal life, because they were offended by Jesus truth! And Jesus only spoke by the authority of His Father, God.

4. Imagine, all of these followers saw His miracles, they had personally heard all of his teachings, they probably were proud to boast that they were followers of the newest trend. Jesus was popular for a time and was the new rock star!

But now, what happens when his teaching no longer makes them feel good? What happen when a certain sermon suddenly makes Him unpopular?  Their loyalty is out the door, and Jesus makes it clear they never believed in the beginning. (vs 64)

I have seen so many people in my lifetime abandon the faith! They are a follower and loyal to a certain church or pastor as long as it is to their advantage to benefit. As long as it feeds their pride, as long as it is popular, as long as they get something without having to defend hard truths, then they will go along with it, but when a shocking Biblical truth comes to light they must adhere to, they then walk away as their loyalty is actually with the world and not with Jesus Christ!

5. Notice in verse  68, (read) Peter, despite how he even denied the Lord later, was loyal deep inside! He knew only Jesus had the real message, the whole truth, even when his truth was not clear to understand, even when everyone was deserting, he remained loyal.

He later died for Jesus as the rest of the disciples! There is no more proof of loyalty than that! That of giving your life! Many of the disciples were martyred which goes to prove they were loyal to the end! This should be our goal as well to be faithful to the end! Revelation 2:10b: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

Have you ever asked God to make you a radical faithful follower that will serve Him all your life no matter what happens? If not, do it now before it is too late! I took that decision at age 21 and I still pray to be a loyal faithful follower of Jesus doing His will daily! Just be faithful day by day and never look back!

6. And in verse 64, Jesus also knew who would betray Him, even though Judas did not leave at that time, he had already left in his heart, he was no longer a believer. Judas was a pretender, he only faked his loyalty, he was a hypocrite liar and murderer in his heart before he actually acted out later on.

Isn’t that something? Can we not see how this happens in the church as well? Some people stick around even when they are not loyal to the mission anymore. Some people when things are not how they want them with the doctrine, with the people, or with the pastors, they don’t leave right away but stay in order to make trouble. These Judases do great damage to the church!

Some many huge denominations have been divided recently over those who adhere to the Bible’s truths disagreeing with those who want to make church doctrines adapt according to the trends of the world. In other words, the people who have stuck around in the church, who really should have left a long time ago, are the ones who later divide the church and make others stumble in the faith. There are always too many confused weak followers in the church!

And imagine how Judas had to live with himself eternally for what he did! It is not here and now in this church but around the world the church is under attack!

7. Let’s go to verse 63. It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. This is one of my favorite verses! Jesus sparks in us life, while others in the flesh are death!

In other words, the people who listen to their own reasoning, who are carnally in tune with their own ideas, ways, and or beliefs influenced by the world are doing nothing for no one! They are profiting and benefiting no one except maybe their selves for their own flesh! All their words are like a death to listen to! People with nothing of God win followers who promote the flesh and are just nothing!

Those in the flesh remind me of all the liars in the news media or the carnal people we know. People who hide, spin, or deny Jesus’ truths, who filter everything through the lens of corrupt humanity’s hypocritical carnality are not only deceptive, but are insulting as they presume they can fool you with their double standard arguments. But they are distracting and diabolical demanding illicit provisions for the flesh which profits nothing!

Whereas in turn when we tune into Jesus, when we hear and obey His words, our spirits transform into a vibrant alive soul, glowing with the power of God’s Holy Spirit!

8. I see it like this: many of our friends deceived by the values and trends of the world, along with most all of the Hollywood stars and musicians we often tune into, not forgetting to mention certain preachers and other world religions, are in general lost carnal people who are not proclaiming Jesus but just worthlessness. These either never cared to know Jesus or they rejected Him. They, as in the verses today, love to have an excuse as to why Jesus is offensive and why they cannot be a Christian.

There also is the case that many people at some time in their life learned about Jesus from some family member growing up, but over time rejected Him because they did not want the embarrassment of defending the Bible, Jesus, and righteousness in front of their intimidating, diabolical peers who lust after the cares of this world and the things of the flesh. The war is the spirit vs. the flesh.

Never fall into that trap of preferring the carnal ones over Jesus! It is better to lose your friends and still have Jesus as your friend than to keep all your so called friends and lose Jesus! Most friends prove to be disastrous as they more than likely will not help you if you ever lose your car, house, job, or mate.

9. Doesn’t it cut you to the soul to read how Jesus asks (vs 67), “Will ye also go away?” The world is in such horrible shape right now because many have walked away from the faith in this country! This actually is a worldwide apostasy! And I fear for the younger generations who in their majority are being influenced to believe that politics should solve the issues of the community (poverty, injustice, etc.) over Jesus teachings! Only Jesus has the words of life! When will people learn?! Look how many nations are in total ruin due to Satan’s corruption!

It is bad enough to see that 4/5ths of the world is cruelly and oppressively controlled by arrogant, atheistic, murderous, communistic, deceptive powers, including so-called religions without having to know that some walk away from the Christian faith! But Jesus said it, Matthew 11: 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

But this is a sign of the times! 2 Thessalonians 2:3 ‘Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.’ There is a slow emptying of the churches with fewer and fewer dedicated ones willing to do any and all things to bring Jesus into the lives of those in the community. It is painful to see!

10. Will you be like Peter who in the end here says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life”. This is the ultimate truth! No matter how many people walk away from Jesus, no matter how many get offended by Christianity and Biblical positions, will you remain stronger than ever?

Only Jesus has the words of eternal life! It doesn’t matter that the world hates us! It does matter if we get offended preferring the stupid opinions and insults of the world over the truths of God!

Today take a stand and pray and ask God to help you be counted with the faithful! Many in the future may abandon the faith, as Satan’s machinery is becoming more and more anti-Christ! But remember only Jesus is the bread of life, the restorer with His blood, the one who gives us life with His Spirit! We only have to take Him in and stay faithful to the end!