f i re m an g ood, fi r e b ad

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
- Jesus in John 10:10
2 Peter 3:9 (NIV) The Lord is not slow in keeping
his promise, as some understand slowness. He is
patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but
everyone to come to repentance.
God is in the lifesaving business.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 This is good, and pleases God our
Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to
come to a knowledge of the truth.
John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that he
gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in
him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn
the world, but to save the world through him.
Ezekiel 33:11a Say to them, ‘As surely as I live,
declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in
the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn
from their ways and live…
God is in the lifesaving business.
Fire. And saving people from
them…
2 Peter 3:7b …the present heavens and earth are
reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment
and destruction of ungodly men.
2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like
a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the
elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and
everything in it will be laid bare.
Matthew 25:41 Then he will say to those on his
left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’
 
How do humans end up destroyed in the fire
that they don’t have to be in?
1. They weren’t warned
“In the aftermath of the Camp fire — 86 dead, more than 13,900 homes destroyed
and Paradise decimated — local and state officials said the tragedy was unforeseen
and unavoidable, an “unprecedented” monster of fire.

In truth, the destruction was utterly predictable, and the community’s struggles to deal
with the fire were the result of lessons forgotten and warnings ignored. The miracle of
the tragedy, local officials now concede, is how many people escaped.

A Los Angeles Times investigation found that Paradise ignored repeated warnings of
the risk its residents faced, crafted no plan to evacuate the area all at once, entrusted
public alerts to a system vulnerable to fire, and did not sound citywide orders to flee
even as a hail of fire rained down.”

Must Reads: Here’s How Paradise Ignored Warnings and

Became a Deathtrap – Los Angeles Times Dec. 30th, 2018
“In the aftermath of the Camp fire — 86 dead, more than 13,900 homes destroyed
and Paradise decimated — local and state officials said the tragedy was unforeseen
and unavoidable, an “unprecedented” monster of fire.

In truth, the destruction was utterly predictable, and the community’s struggles to deal
with the fire were the result of lessons forgotten and warnings ignored. The miracle of
the tragedy, local officials now concede, is how many people escaped.

A Los Angeles Times investigation found that Paradise ignored repeated warnings of
the risk its residents faced, crafted no plan to evacuate the area all at once,
entrusted public alerts to a system vulnerable to fire, and did not sound citywide
orders to flee even as a hail of fire rained down.”

Must Reads: Here’s How Paradise Ignored Warnings and

Became a Deathtrap – Los Angeles Times Dec. 30th, 2018
2. They were warned, but didn’t flee.
2 Thessalonians 2:10b They perish because they
refused to love the truth and so be saved.
The First Temptation
The Global Flood
Sodom and Gomorrah
Nineveh
Babylon
Christians are in the lifesaving business.
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself
through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against
them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are
therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal
through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God.
Rev. 14:6 Then I saw another angel flying in
midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to
those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe,
language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice,
“Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of
his judgment has come. Worship him who made the
heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
Rev. 14:8 A second angel followed and said,
“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made
all the nations drink the maddening wine of her
adulteries.”
Rev. 14:9 A third angel followed them and said in a
loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his
image and receives his mark on the forehead or on
the hand,10 he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s
fury, which has been poured full strength into the
cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning
sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the
Lamb.
Rev. 14:11 And the smoke of their torment rises for
ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those
who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone
who receives the mark of his name.”
 
Rev. 14:12 This calls for patient endurance on the
part of the saints who obey God’s commandments
and remain faithful to Jesus.
So…It is not “God is going to get you with this!” but
rather, “God wants to keep you from this.”