Consuming Fire 2 of 4

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Consuming Fire 2 of 4
welcome to community church
february 8 2009
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• know.

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• Last night the world shifted. There was a total
  eclipse of the moon, and the weather conditions
  were such that most people could have watched it
  from their front lawns. But most people watched
  it on television.

• E.B. White

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• 7But whatever was to my profit I now consider
  loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I
  consider everything a loss compared to the
  surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my
  Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I
  consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
  9and be found in him, not having a righteousness
  of my own that comes from the law, but that which
  is through faith in Christthe righteousness that
  comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know
  Christ and the power of his resurrection and the
  fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming
  like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to
  attain to the resurrection from the dead

• Philippians 3

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• 7But whatever was to my profit I now consider
  loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I
  consider everything a loss compared to the
  surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my
  Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I
  consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
  9and be found in him, not having a righteousness
  of my own that comes from the law, but that which
  is through faith in Christthe righteousness that
  comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know
  Christ and the power of his resurrection and the
  fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming
  like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to
  attain to the resurrection from the dead.

• Philippians 3

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• 7But whatever was to my profit I now consider
  loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I
  consider everything a loss compared to the
  surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my
  Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I
  consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
  9and be found in him, not having a righteousness
  of my own that comes from the law, but that which
  is through faith in Christthe righteousness that
  comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know
  Christ and the power of his resurrection and the
  fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming
  like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to
  attain to the resurrection from the dead.

• Philippians 3

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• 27 So God created man in his own image,
• in the image of God he created him
• male and female he created them.
• 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be
  fruitful and increase in number fill the earth
  and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and
  the birds of the air and over every living
  creature that moves on the ground.

- Genesis 1
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• 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing
  plant on the face of the whole earth and every
  tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be
  yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the
  earth and all the birds of the air and all the
  creatures that move on the groundeverything that
  has the breath of life in itI give every green
  plant for food." And it was so.
• 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very
  good. And there was evening, and there was
  morningthe sixth day.

- Genesis 1
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• 8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the
  east, in Eden and there he put the man he had
  formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of
  trees grow out of the groundtrees that were
  pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the
  middle of the garden were the tree of life and
  the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

- Genesis 2
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• 15The LORD God took the man and put him in the
  Garden of Eden to work it and take care of
  it.16And the LORD God commanded the man, You are
  free to eat from any tree in the garden17but you
  must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of
  good and evil, for when you eat of it you will
  surely die.

- Genesis 2
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• 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of
  the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said
  to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not
  eat from any tree in the garden'?"
• 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat
  fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did
  say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that
  is in the middle of the garden, and you must not
  touch it, or you will die.' "

- Genesis 3
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• 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to
  the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of
  it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
  God, knowing good and evil."
• 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree
  was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and
  also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some
  and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,
  who was with her, and he ate it.

- Genesis 3
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• 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and
  they realized they were naked so they sewed fig
  leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

- Genesis 3
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• 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of
  the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in
  the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD
  God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD
  God called to the man, "Where are you?"
• 10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and
  I was afraid because I was naked so I hid."

- Genesis 3
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• Our woes began when God was forced out of His
  central shrine and things were allowed to
  enter. Within the human heart things have taken
  over. Men have now by nature no peace within
  their hearts, for God is crowned there no longer,
  but there in the moral dusk stubborn and
  aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for
  first place on the throne.

• A. W. Tozer
• The Pursuit of God

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• This is not a mere metaphor, but an accurate
  analysis of our real spiritual trouble. There is
  within the human heart a tough fibrous root of
  fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to
  possess. It covets things with a deep and
  fierce passion. The pronouns my and mine look
  innocent enough in print, but their constant and
  universal use is significant. They express the
  real nature of the old Adamic man better than a
  thousand volumes of theology could do. They are
  verbal symptoms of our deep disease. The roots of
  our hearts have grown down into things, and we
  dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things
  have become necessary to us, a development never
  originally intended. Gods gifts now take the
  place of God, and the whole course of nature is
  upset by the monstrous substitution.

• A. W. Tozer
• The Pursuit of God

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• This is not a mere metaphor, but an accurate
  analysis of our real spiritual trouble. There is
  within the human heart a tough fibrous root of
  fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to
  possess. It covets things with a deep and
  fierce passion. The pronouns my and mine look
  innocent enough in print, but their constant and
  universal use is significant. They express the
  real nature of the old Adamic man better than a
  thousand volumes of theology could do. They are
  verbal symptoms of our deep disease. The roots of
  our hearts have grown down into things, and we
  dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things
  have become necessary to us, a development never
  originally intended. Gods gifts now take the
  place of God, and the whole course of nature is
  upset by the monstrous substitution.

• A. W. Tozer
• The Pursuit of God

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• 24Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone
  would come after me, he must deny himself and
  take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever
  wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever
  loses his life for me will find it. 26What good
  will it be for a man if he gains the whole world,
  yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in
  exchange for his soul?

• Matthew 16

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• 24Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone
  would come after me, he must deny himself and
  take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever
  wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever
  loses his life for me will find it. 26What good
  will it be for a man if he gains the whole world,
  yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in
  exchange for his soul?

• Matthew 16

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• 24Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone
  would come after me, he must deny himself and
  take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever
  wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever
  loses his life for me will find it. 26What good
  will it be for a man if he gains the whole world,
  yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in
  exchange for his soul?

• Matthew 16

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gains the whole world

• 19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on
  earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where
  thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for
  yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and
  rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not
  break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is,
  there your heart will be also.
• 22"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your
  eyes are good, your whole body will be full of
  light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole
  body will be full of darkness. If then the light
  within you is darkness, how great is that
  darkness!
• 24"No one can serve two masters. Either he
  will hate the one and love the other, or he will
  be devoted to the one and despise the other. You
  cannot serve both God and Money.
• -Matthew 6

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save his life

• 25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about
  your life, what you will eat or drink or about
  your body, what you will wear. Is not life more
  important than food, and the body more important
  than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air
  they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
  and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you
  not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by
  worrying can add a single hour to his life?
• -Matthew 6

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save his life

• 28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how
  the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor
  or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon
  in all his splendor was dressed like one of
  these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of
  the field, which is here today and tomorrow is
  thrown into the fire, will he not much more
  clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not
  worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What
  shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For
  the pagans run after all these things, and your
  heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But
  seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and
  all these things will be given to you as well.
  34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
  tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has
  enough trouble of its own.
• -Matthew 6

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• 24Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone
  would come after me, he must deny himself and
  take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever
  wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever
  loses his life for me will find it. 26What good
  will it be for a man if he gains the whole world,
  yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in
  exchange for his soul?

• Matthew 16

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• 7But whatever was to my profit I now consider
  loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I
  consider everything a loss compared to the
  surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my
  Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I
  consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
  9and be found in him, not having a righteousness
  of my own that comes from the law, but that which
  is through faith in Christthe righteousness that
  comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know
  Christ and the power of his resurrection and the
  fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming
  like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to
  attain to the resurrection from the dead.

• Philippians 3

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• 7But whatever was to my profit I now consider
  loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I
  consider everything a loss compared to the
  surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my
  Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I
  consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
  9and be found in him, not having a righteousness
  of my own that comes from the law, but that which
  is through faith in Christthe righteousness that
  comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know
  Christ and the power of his resurrection and the
  fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming
  like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to
  attain to the resurrection from the dead.

• Philippians 3

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• 24Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone
  would come after me, he must deny himself and
  take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever
  wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever
  loses his life for me will find it. 26What good
  will it be for a man if he gains the whole world,
  yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in
  exchange for his soul?

• Matthew 16

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• 1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for
  those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through
  Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me
  free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the
  law was powerless to do in that it was weakened
  by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own
  Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin
  offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,
  4in order that the righteous requirements of the
  law might be fully met in us, who do not live
  according to the sinful nature but according to
  the Spirit.

• Romans 8

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• 9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful
  nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God
  lives in you. And if anyone does not have the
  Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
  10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead
  because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because
  of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who
  raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he
  who raised Christ from the dead will also give
  life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit,
  who lives in you.

• Romans 8

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• 9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful
  nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God
  lives in you. And if anyone does not have the
  Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
  10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead
  because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because
  of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who
  raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he
  who raised Christ from the dead will also give
  life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit,
  who lives in you.

• Romans 8

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• 7But whatever was to my profit I now consider
  loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I
  consider everything a loss compared to the
  surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my
  Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I
  consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
  9and be found in him, not having a righteousness
  of my own that comes from the law, but that which
  is through faith in Christthe righteousness that
  comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know
  Christ and the power of his resurrection and the
  fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming
  like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to
  attain to the resurrection from the dead.

• Philippians 3

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• 1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a
  mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to
  him, 2and he began to teach them saying
• 3Blessed are the poor in spirit,
• for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

• Matthew 5

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• poor in spirit
• mourning
• meekness
• hunger and thirst
• mercy
• purity of heart
• peacemaking
• persecution victims

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• 1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a
  great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
  everything that hinders and the sin that so
  easily entangles, and let us run with
  perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us
  fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter
  of our faith, who for the joy set before him
  endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat
  down at the right hand of the throne of God.
  3Consider him who endured such opposition from
  sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and
  lose heart.

• Hebrews 12

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• 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of
  the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in
  the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD
  God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD
  God called to the man, "Where are you?

- Genesis 3
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• 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of
  the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in
  the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD
  God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD
  God called to the man, "Where are you?"
• 10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and
  I was afraid because I was naked so I hid."

- Genesis 3
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• 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam
  and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD
  God said, "The man has now become like one of us,
  knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to
  reach out his hand and take also from the tree of
  life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the LORD
  God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work
  the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After
  he drove the man out, he placed on the east side
  of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming
  sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to
  the tree of life.

- Genesis 3
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• 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If
  anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will
  come in and eat with him, and he with me.

- Revelation 3
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God bless you.Have a great week.