1. “God’s Fire and Hammer!”
Jeremiah 23:25-32

2. The “smack” heard around the world… Famous picture taken on VJ Day in Times Square, August 14, 1945…

3. “The Kissers of New Orleans”
A Cheryl Collins (38) and Donald Simmons (53) were the ones who seemed to love to smooch in public…
“The Kissers of New Orleans”

4. Purpose:
to better understand how God’s Word is our source for discerning truth and falsehood

5. I God’s Word is Like Fire
A. It Warms

6. Cutting, splitting and stacking wood… It was hard but satisfying work… Real joy came from the warmth of the wood heat…

7. I God’s Word is Like Fire
A. It Warms
B. It Awakens

8. Men, women and young people don’t like being “scorched and burned” by the Gospel…

9. I God’s Word is Like Fire
A. It Warms
B. It Awakens
C. It Melts

10. Oh, that hearts of hardened lives would come in contact with this blessed flame, that its holy heat would melt these hearts and that these hearts would yield to the authority and love of God alone!

11. II God’s Word is Like a Hammer
A. It Requires No Great Skill

12. Isaiah 55:11
“So shall My Word be which goes forth from My mouth. It shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (NASB)

13. II God’s Word is Like a Hammer
A. It Requires No Great Skill
B. It Will Break Rocky Hearts

14. Chevy trucks may be “like a rock” but nothing breaks hard hearts like God’s Word…!

15. II God’s Word is Like a Hammer
A. It Requires No Great Skill
B. It Will Break Rocky Hearts
C. It Must be Used Persistently

16. National Retail Dry Goods Assoc.
48% = make one call…
25% = make two calls…
15 % = make three calls…
12% = keep calling and do 80% business…
88% = who quit… do only 20% business…

17. III God’s Word Put to Test
A. Try the Word on Yourself
B. Try the Word on Others

18. Hebrews 4:12
“For the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (NASB)

19. William Hone The proudest heart that ever beat
Hath been subdued in me;
The wildest will that ever rose,
To scorn Thy cause or aid Thy foes,
Is quelled, my God, by Thee.
William Hone

20. Conclusion and Summary
Missionary was asked entering a communist country, “Do you have any guns, drugs, or Bibles?… Doesn’t it
strike you odd that Bibles would be included in a list of articles perceived as threatening?…