HIS WORD IS LIKE FIRE
BREAD
28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD. 29 “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:28-29 (NIV)
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. Luke 24:30-35 (NIV)
9 But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. Jeremiah 20:9 (NIV)
2 But when I was silent and still, not even saying anything good, my anguish increased. 3 My heart grew hot within me, and as I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue. Psalm 39:2-3 (NIV)
5 “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.” Proverbs 30:5-6 (NIV)
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life–in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. Philippians 2:14-16 (NIV)
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning. 13 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. 14 He shot his arrows and scattered [the enemies], great bolts of lightning and routed them. 15 The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils. Psalm 18:12-15 (NIV)
12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:12-13 (NIV)
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness. Malachi 3:2-3 (NIV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. John 1:1-5 (NIV)
29 For our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Every sermon, every Bible lesson, every word of testimony, and every verse of Scripture is a warning, calling us to repentance and revival. Our God is a consuming fire, and a day of judgment is coming. We must not neglect the warning, and today’s church must not forget that our message includes the ministry of warning.” Robert J. Morgan
“By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God, and I feel fire and music under my feet.” Thomas Merton
“These ‘saints,’ as we sometimes call them, knew God in a way that I clearly did not. They experienced Jesus as the defining reality of their lives. They possessed a flaming vision of God that blinded them to all competing loyalties. They experienced life built on the Rock. It hardly mattered who I read in those days – Brother Lawrence, Tozer, Woolman – they knew God in ways far beyond anything I had ever experienced. Or even wanted to experience! But as I continued to soak in the stories of these women and men who were aflame with the fire of divine love, I began desiring this kind of life for myself. And desiring led to seeking and seeking led to finding. And what I found settled me, deepened me, thickened me.” Richard J. Foster
“Immerse yourself in God’s Word, apply what you learn and He will fan into flames the fire of your passion which keeps you yearning for further still and creates within you a pure and clean heart and a steadfast spirit. Nothing this life offers equal this.” BHY
“Our claim is that God has revealed Himself by speaking; that this divine (or God-breathed) speech has been written down and preserved in Scripture; and that Scripture is, in fact, God’s Word written, which therefore is true and reliable and has divine authority over men.” John Stott
“His Word cannot be falsified, disqualified, modified or nullified. His Word cannot be distorted or inverted or reinvented or demerited or interpreted away. His Word is beauty, it is wooing, and it will all be accomplished absolutely. The debate of the day may change, the crisis may change, the screaming headlines of the genuinely horrifying may change — but, in the entire heaving cosmos, this remains unchangeable, unstoppable, undaunted: The Word of God. His Word is absolute and resolute and it will remain until time concludes. God’s Word is more permanent than any words written in granite — or in headlines or campaign slogans or PR statements or press releases or laws. Mountain rock is fleetingly temporary compared to the forever permanence of the Rock of His Word. Culture cannot shape it and society cannot silence it and scarred people cannot help but be wooed by it, healed by it, held by it. And the Lover of the letter, He soothes: ‘The mountains may pass away, but my truth will not pass away, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever, and though the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but My steadfast love shall not depart from you.’” Ann Voskamp
“Jesus is the Word made flesh and in Him is perfect peace – a state of untroubled, undisturbed well-being. Therefore, as His followers we are to encourage one another, in the midst of life’s chaos and storms, with the living and powerful Word of God. As our Lord did, He spoke the Word and calmed the sea. Just as it was true then, it is still true today – His Word calms and He can speak it even through a donkey. His Word is alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is able to divide soul and spirit, joint and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. It is not to be merely idle words for us as Moses told the Israelites, it is to be our life. God’s Word is a balm for every needy soul – and truly, what soul isn’t needy?” BHY
“Heaven forbid that we should go on playing religious games in one corner when the cloud and fire of God’s presence have moved to another.” David Watson
“Never fear the moments you imagine will freeze you: Unexpected blasts of cold can be what draws you nearer to the flame of His love. Darn the cold. Thank God for the fire. Welcome to The Club of those are really alive.” Ann Voskamp
“Breathe on me, Breath of God, till I am wholly Thine; until this earthly part of me glows with Thy fire divine.” Edwin Hatch
HEART SAVOR
• God’s Word ignites the fire of passion in our hearts. We are to be a conduit through which Truth flows to others. We are not to keep it within ourselves or it will surely die out or at the very least dim. It is Good News and it is meant to be shared – to hold out life that is truly life to others. Sit, soak and you will sour.
• Believer’s are to speak God’s Word faithfully.
• Believer’s are to glow with His fire.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 