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I've known men in ministry who at one

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time were men on fire for God, but

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somewhere along the way the flame went out.

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Whether it was from disappointment of an unfulfilled

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dream or discouragement in ministry, whatever the reason,

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the flame began to flicker down until it

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became a wisp and then it was blown

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out.

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A man like that, in that condition, is

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no use to anyone.

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He becomes a Christian worker who does for

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God only because he has an obligation to

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do so.

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There is no joy in his service to

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the Lord.

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There is a bitter taste in his mouth

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for feeling he was duped to begin with

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by doing what he did.

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He won't go any further in his service

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to God, and he won't go any deeper

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in his relationship with God.

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It's like a bad marriage of convenience where

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both partners sleep with their backs turned against

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the other.

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There are some pastors in this condition.

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Some wicked deacon roughed them up and hindered

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the work of the ministry and hurt their

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feelings.

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Or perhaps some disappointment was too much for

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them and whatever fire they had for God

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dwindled down to a wisp of smoke.

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Or perhaps they are a Christian who became

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disenchanted by the institutional church or dissatisfied by

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a preacher-in-general.

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But whatever the reason is for the flame

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going out in their walk with God, they

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will never be satisfied if they remain where

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they are and continue in that cold state.

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There is a dire warning found in Hebrews

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chapter 3, beginning in verse 7.

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Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith today, if

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ye will hear his voice, harden not your

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hearts, as in the provocation, in the day

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of temptation, in the wilderness, when your fathers

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tempted me, proved me, and saw my works

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forty years, wherefore I was grieved with that

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generation, and said, They do always err in

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their heart, and they have not known my

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ways.

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So I swear in my wrath, they shall

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not enter into my rest.

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Let me pause here, friends, because there is

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a break in the text in verse 12,

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as the writer of Hebrews issues a dire

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warning to all his readers.

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Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any

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of you an evil heart of unbelief in

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departing from the living God.

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But exhort one another daily, while it is

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called to-day, lest any of you be

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hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

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I will stop there.

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The Israelites in the wilderness were a great

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disappointment to God.

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He had delivered them from the bondage of

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Egypt, worked wonders on their behalf at the

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Red Sea, provided manna from heaven to satisfy

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their hunger, and even made water flow from

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a rock to quench their thirst.

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But all they did was continually gripe and

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complain, and voice their dissatisfaction.

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They hardened their hearts against their God, and

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against their appointed leader Moses, and they provoked

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Almighty God by their grievous sins.

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It was a time of provocation, our text

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says.

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I believe you don't have to be in

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the desert to have wilderness of soul.

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I believe bitterness toward another is a poisonous

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root that chokes out all fruit.

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I believe a follower of God can so

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harden their heart that they become good for

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nothing.

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They block God's flow of blessing to their

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life and family.

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They are no longer sensitive to the leadings

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of the Holy Spirit, and whatever fruit they

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manage to produce comes only from the flesh,

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and it doesn't last.

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A person with a hardened heart is like

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a lead balloon that cannot rise one inch

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from the ground.

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There it sits, in its own misery of

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self-pity, and putrefies all it comes in

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contact with.

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Stagnant water is filthy.

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When the flame goes out, it stays out

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until that person has a fresh encounter with

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God, and if they're honest with themselves, they

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know their problem exists because of unbelief.

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But there, in that mountaintop experience, the flame

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is rekindled and stoked each day with a

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new awareness of God and a burning love

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for His Son, Jesus Christ.

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We must do all we can to fan

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the embers on the altar of our heart

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and our love toward God and to one

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another.

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But if there is no hot pursuit of

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God, there will be stagnation and a hardening

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of the heart.

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Only one is only left wondering what might

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have been if God was allowed to have

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His way.

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There is a poem that's always been a

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warning to me to never let the flame

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go out and to stay on track for

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God's plan for me.

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Let me end my message, friends, by reading

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it to you now.

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When I stand at the judgment seat of

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Christ and He shows His plan for me,

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the plan of my life, as it might

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have been, had He had His way and

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I see how I blocked Him here and

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checked Him there and I would not yield

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my will, would there be grief in my

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Savior's eyes, grief though He loves me still?

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Would He have me rich and I stand

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there poor, stripped of all but His grace,

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while memory runs like a haunted thing down

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the paths I cannot retrace?

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Lord of the years that are left of

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me, I give them to Thy hand.

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Take me and break me and mold me

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to the pattern that Thou hast planned.