Gehenna - The Lake of Fire - Preached at Open Door Christian Fellowship February 6, 2011

8/7/2019 Gehenna - The Lake of Fire - Preached at Open Door Christian Fellowship February 6, 2011

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The First Vision

Gehenna

the Lake of Fire


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"Now there was a rich man, and he

habitually dressed in purple and finelinen, joyously living in splendor every

day. 20"And a poor man named

Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered

with sores, 21and longing to be fed withthe crumbs which were falling from the

rich man's table; besides, even the dogs

were coming and licking his sores.Luke 16:19


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"Now the poor man died and was

carried away by the angelsto Abraham's bosom; and the

rich man also died and was

buried. 23"In Hades he lifted uphis eyes, being in torment, and

saw Abraham far away and

Lazarus in his bosom.

Luke 16:22


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"And he cried out and said,

'FatherAbraham, have mercyon me, and send Lazarus so

that he may dip the tip of his

finger in water and cool off mytongue, forI am in agony in this

flame.'

Luke 16:23


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"But Abraham said, 'Child, remember

that during your life you received yourgood things, and likewise Lazarus bad

things; but now he is being comforted

here, and you are in agony. 26'And

besides all this, between us and youthere is a great chasm fixed, so that

those who wish to come over from here

to you will not be able, and that nonemay cross over from there to us.'

Luke 16:24


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And death and hell were

cast into the lake of fire.This is the second death.

15 And whosoever was notfound written in the book of

life was cast into the lake offire.

Revelation 20:14-15


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And the third angel followed

them, saying with a loud voice, Ifany man worship the beast and

his image, and receive [his] mark

in his forehead, or in his hand, 10The same shall drink of the wine

of the wrath of God, which is

poured out without mixture into

the cup of his indignation;

Revelation 14:9


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and he shall be tormented with fire

and brimstone in the presence of theholy angels, and in the presence of

the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their

torment ascendeth up for ever andever: and they have no rest day nor

night, who worship the beast and his

image, and whosoever receiveth themark of his name.

Revelation 14:10b


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The Bible speaks of two

destinations for those whohave died separated from

God. In English we use thesame word for both - Hell


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Hades is the name used for the place

that the rich man was. It was a placethat all the dead went and it had two

states. One was paradise. The other

was torment. We are told that theyare separated by an impassable

barrier. There is some

communication between the twobecause Abraham spoke with the

Rich man.


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Hades is a temporary

place the dead reside

until the finaljudgment.


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Jesus went to Hades

after he died. He

went to Paradise.


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And he was saying, "Jesus,

remember me when Youcome in Your kingdom!43A

nd He said to him,"Truly

Isay to you, today you shall

be with Me in Paradise.

Luke 23:42-43


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But he also visited the place of

those who were separatedfrom God.


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For Christ also died for sins once for all,

the just for the unjust, so that Hemight bring us to God, having been put

to death in the flesh, but made alive in

the spirit; 19in which also He went and

made proclamation to the spirits now inprison, 20who once were disobedient,

when the patience of God kept waiting

in the days ofN

oah, during theconstruction of the ark . . .

1 Peter3:18-21


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The final resting place

for those who are

separated from Godby unredeemed sin is

what Jesus calledGehenna.


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In the book of

Revelation it is

spoken of in thepassages we read as

the lake of fire.


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It is crucial to understand that

the concept of Gehenna didnot actually come into being

untilJesus. He was the onewho taught there would be

permanent, eternal

consequences to rejectingthe mercy God offered

through him.


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"But I say to you that everyone who

is angry with his brother shall beguilty before the court; and

whoever says to his brother, 'You

good-for-nothing,' shall be guiltybefore the supreme court; and

whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be

guilty enough to go into the fieryhell (Gehenna).Matthew 5:22


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"If your right eye makes you

stumble, tear it out and throwit from you; for it is better for

you to lose one of the partsof your body, than for your

whole body to be thrown

into hell. (Gehenna).Matthew 5:2918:9 & Mark 9:45


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"If your right hand makes

you stumble, cut it off andthrow it from you; for it is

better for you to lose oneof the parts of your body,

than for your whole bodyto go into hell. (Gehenna).Matthew 5:30


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"If your foot causes you to

stumble, cut it off; it isbetter for you to enter life

lame, than, having yourtwo feet, to be cast

into hell (Gehenna) Mark 9:45


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"Do not fear those who

kill the body but are

unable to kill the soul;

but rather fear Him who

is able to destroy both

soul and body in hell.(Gehenna).

Matthew 10:28 & Luke 12:5


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You serpents, you

brood of vipers, how

will you escape thesentence of hell?

(Gehenna) Matthew 23:33


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"Woe to you, scribes and

Pharisees, hypocrites,because you travel around

on sea and land to makeone proselyte; and when he

becomes one, you make him

twice as much a son of hell(Gehenna) as yourselves.

Matthew 23:15


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I see that often the doctrine

of hell is used to venthostility towards others

who are believed to be ina different place

concerning the love ofGod.


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I once used it that way. I

would go out on thestreets to witness to

people about Jesus love.Invariably I would tell them

if they did not receive Himthey would suffer eternally

for it.


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And that is exactly true. If

we do not respond to thisgreat call of mercy to be

reconciled to God we willremain separated from

God for all eternity andthat is Hell Gehenna.


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But as I shared this horrible

truth my heart was proud.I was not a man desperate

to see people taken fromthat place. In my insecurity

Iwanted people torespond to my message.


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One night God told me to

never come out again towitness until I could talk to

every person that I metlike I would speak to my

mother.


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I understood what He told

me that night perfectly. Itwas not the doctrine of

Hell that was the problem,it was my heart.


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Jesus warned of Gehenna

because it was a realplace that people would

end if they did not listen.Not out of a proud self

righteousness or todenounce others but out

of love.


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on May 9,1980 in the early morning fog

the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida

was crashed into by the ship Summit

Venture. This ship toppled half of it

causing rush hour traffic to plunge

suddenly into the Gulf of Mexico.


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A bus driver was unable to see the end of the

bridge and drove off the bridge into the sea.

Six other cars did the same. Thirty-five

people were instantly killed but one driver

clung in a death-defying balance on the

edge of the boat his truck had fallen ontoand survived.


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Another car having seen that the top of

the bridge was gone slammed on his

brakes and stopped 14 inches short of

the edge. The passengers got out of the

car and desperately sought to stop

traffic.


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The Pilot of the boat,

Capt. Lerro had onlyone thing on his

mind in the secondsafter the crash. He

screamed over theradio to the coast

guard:


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Lerro: Get emergency . . . all the

emergency equipment out to theSkyway bridge. Vessel has just hit

the Skyway bridge. The Skyway

bridge is down! Get all emergencyequipment out to the Skyway

bridge. The Skyway bridge is down.

This is Mayday. Emergencysituation. Stop the traffic on that

Skyway bridge!"


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Captain Lerro had the

heart that Jesus has

about warning people

of the disaster ahead ifthey do not turn from

the path they are on.


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Gehenna isseparation from

God and all that isgood.


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I

nJ

esus dayGehenna was the

city dump ofJerusalem.


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I

t got its name fromthe Hebrew words

Gai Hinnom TheValley of Hinnom.

Aramacized toGehenna.


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Because of the wickedness

practiced in the Valley ofHinnom it became a

desecrated parcel of landthat became Jerusalem's

garbage dump.


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At night the continual fires of

spontaneous combustion lit thewhole area. By day maggots

and worms openly ate the

refuse. This was the symbolJesus used for the final

condition and resting place for

those who refused to turn

(repent) from sin and turn to

Him.


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"If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it

is better for you to enter life crippled, than,

having your two hands, to go intohell, intothe unquenchable fire, 44[where THEIR

WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS

NOT QUENCHED.] 45"If your foot causes you

to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you toenter life lame, than, having your two feet, to

be cast into hell, 46[where THEIR WORM

DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT

QUENCHED.]

Mark 9:43-46


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The acts which so

defiled this place

were not God'sdesire:


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"They have built the high places

of Topheth, which is in thevalley of the son of Hinnom,

to burn their sons and their

daughters in the fire, which I didnot command, and it did not

come into My mind.

Jeremiah 7:31


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Now let your faith that the

scriptures are the Word of theLiving God and can be trusted

fully take hold of your mind right

now and see what they tell us.God did not desire for people to

put their precious children on to

the altars ofBaal they erected

in the Valley of Hinnom.


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He did not desire for them to burn

them while still alive in ademonic sacrfice to a god that

was murderous. Their hearts

were so calloused by theirdeception that they could not

have compassion on the most

innocent and helpless beings

on earth..... their own children.


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The Bible says this horror did not

even come into His mind. It wasnot an act of His sovereignty. It

was not something He stood by

and did nothing about. It wasthe act of a depraved humanity

that rebelled against His will

and brought about actions

which He hates.


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It will be this image that we need

to understand if we are tounderstand the wrath of God.

He loved every single little child

that was sacrificed on the AltarofBaal erected in Gai Hinnom.


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Every soul that has lived bears a

potential of this horror inside ofthemselves no matter how

much we look on the outside. It

is the horror of sin thatseparates us from the only

source of life - God.


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When our first parents

turned from God they

were separated fromHim. This is death.


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but from the tree of the

knowledge of good andevil you shall not eat, for in

the day that you eat fromit you will surely die.

Genesis 2:17


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If we do not turn to Him

to receive the mercy Hepurchased with His

lifes blood we willremain separated from

Him forever.


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Eternally Alone


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If however we turn from

following our own waysand turn to Jesus we will

never be alone.


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I will never leave

you nor forsake

you.Hebrews 13:5


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Humans are created for

relationship:


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Then the LORD God said, "It is

not good for the man to be alone;I will make him a helper suitable

for him."

Genesis 2:18


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Of all creation Godsaid, It is good except

the man He createdbeing alone.


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This is not just

about a man andwoman.


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It is not primarily

about the need forromantic intimacy.


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It is about the

deepest need of

the human heart.


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To be in

relationship.


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To not be alone


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We are created for

relationship.


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God created uswith the need of

Him and each

other.


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Perhaps one of themost horrible

experiences of life is tobe alone.


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Loneliness can hurt sodeeply that it can scar

us for life.


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When we do notunderstand Gods love

for us we can be drivento doing anything to

keep someone in ourlife.


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The list of activities thatgrow out of this deepest

need is so long it wouldtake weeks to discuss

them.


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But the foundation of all

of them is met in Jesusfirst and then in loving

those who He calls usto love.


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No matter how few ormany people we have

in our lives that love usHe always does.


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Even when our parentsare gone or do not love

us He is there.


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Though my fatherand

motherforsake me,the LORD will receive

me.

Psalm 27:10


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Even if the dearestfriend we have ever had

fails in their love for usHe will not.


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I will never leave

you nor forsake

you.Hebrews 13:5


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The heart of the gospel

message is the love ofGod shown on a cross.


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The primary reason for

the cross is found in thepassage we read from

John 15..


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Greater love has no one

than this, that one lay

down his life for his

friends.

John 15:13


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Having spent time on

earth giving away his

life he completed thegiving by dying for his

friends including youand me.


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This is the mystery of

fulfillment that the world

has no conception of.


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Jesus who gave the

most of Himself was the

least alone person in

the world.

The one who selfishly


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The one who selfishly

looks out only for hisown interests and takes

for himself withoutgiving back to God and

others grows more andmore isolated.


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It is actually very simple

to see and understand

yet it leaves many

totally baffled.


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So the mystery ofbelonging is

unveiled.


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When I selfishly take for

myself from others I end upfurther and further into the

place of aloneness andalienation.


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WhenI

give my life forJ

esusand others I grow deeper and

deeper into His love that

cannot be measured.


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I believe aloneness isthe essence of

Gehenna The Lake of Fire

Hell.


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Aplace where the eternal partof the human who has never

allowed itself to be given back

to God spends in an eternal

separation from God and

others.


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A place that will be fully

revealed in the end of timebut is seen and felt in every

act of selfishness andunkindness.


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A place of

EternalA

loneness


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Ifirst came to understand thiswhen I was just beginning my

relationship with the Lord.


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I was going through a time ofdeep humbling in my life in

facing what I had done before

and afterI had found Jesus.


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Iknew so well the reality ofsin and felt keenly that it

needed to be radically

removed from my life.


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Ihad not yet found the powerto overcome some of the

terribly ingrained habits that

had been imprinted on my life

before receiving Jesus.


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For several weeksI

wasasking God to help me hate

sin.


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Night after night

Iprayed forhours that God would free me

from the evil in my heart.

Night after night I grew more

convinced that I could not just

will it away.


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My friends at the church I

attended cautioned me that Iwas getting too concerned about

this. After all, they said, your

sins are forgiven. But the cry of

my heart was not that my sins

would just be forgiven but that Iwould truly change.

O i h I i I


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One night as I went to pray again I

pressed into God with all my heart.Suddenly it was as ifI was taken

into a very dark room. It seemed like

the darkness fell over my wholebeing. Then I saw what seemed like

fire that began to spread across the

whole of my vision.

A it f d it


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As it came more focused it was a

lake of fire.Ibegan to panic. Mywhole body began to shake and I

felt fear like I had only once before

had known. I was paralyzed in itsgrip. The inferno seemed white hot

and raging like no fire on earth that I

have ever seen.


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It was as ifI was moving along just

above the surface of it but nothingwas visible except the fire so I could

not really know which way I was

traveling.

At th d f i i i


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At the edge of my vision in

front of me I saw a figure inthe fire. I began to look

carefully and the figure

became clear.

To m horror I sa m self


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To my horrorI saw myself

crying in torment. I wasscreaming so hard yet no one

came to help. I realized that in

spite of the great heat I wasnot burning up. I watched in

sheer terror for what seemedto be a long time.

To my horror I saw myself


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To my horrorI saw myself

crying in torment. I wasscreaming so hard yet no one

came to help. I realized that in

spite of the great heat I wasnot burning up. I watched in

sheer terror for what seemedto be a long time.

With each moment the


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With each moment the

absolute finality of my fategripped my soul with

unimaginable fear.

I had joked with my friends


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I had joked with my friends

before being saved that I waswanting to go to hell since that

was where all my friends were

going to be.


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I had flippantly said that

hell would be where theparty was but there was

no laughter here.


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Screaming out in

absolute pain I knewthere would be no relief

for me.

N ld b i i


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No one would bring a sip

of water to cool mytongue. There would be

no sleep to hide from theterrible flames.

Et l k f l d


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Eternal wakefulness and

eternal torment. Day andnight forever. No one to

help me. No one to takepity on me. Eternal

aloneness.

Wh I th ht I ld


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When I thought I could

stand no more but woulddissolve into the lake of

fire myself the visionceased.

I l th fl


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I lay on the floor

weeping. Then the voiceofJesus spoke, This is

what I saved you from.

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Gehenna - The Lake of Fire - Preached at Open Door Christian Fellowship February 6, 2011

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