Video Transcript: The First Fire of Conflict - The Wildfire

Back in 1995, in Tomales Bay State Park in Mount Vision in California, a group of young hikers went out on an overnight camping trip.  They set up camp in an area of the park that was not authorized for camping.  But these were experienced hikers, they knew what they were doing and they set up camp. And in the morning, they put their fire out.  They had put a ring of rocks around the fire to contain it.  So they filled in, put dirt on the fire, put some rocks on, put some more dirt on, and they even left a handprint on the pile of dirt where they were feeling for radiant heat.  Persuaded that the fire was out, the campers moved on and continued their hike. 

What the hikers didn't know is that that fire had gone underground and had set on fire some roots.  Those roots smoldered, continued, the fire carried underground, went beyond the containment rocks, and then came back above ground within the next couple of days.  And it started a wildfire that spread, burn hundreds of acres and destroyed over 50 homes. 

The Mount Vision fire is very similar to what conflict is like.  Sometimes conflict is like that campfire.  We can actually get comfortable around it, we can find a way to live with it, we can put rocks around it, we can contain it.  Then sometimes we'll throw dirt on the fire and think we have put it out.  But then later, when the winds blow just right, and the right words are set at the wrong time or the wrong words are said at the right time.  That fire ignites and then we can't contain it.  It gets out beyond the containment and it starts to destroy. 

That's a picture for us of the wildfire.  And so when we talk about the wildfire, we're talking about conflict that destroys.  And the wildfire includes and represents the dynamic nature of conflict and everything that the conflict encompasses. 

There are usually people in the wildfire with us.  But there are also other things. There's emotions, there are relationships, there are dreams.  Sometimes there's property.  Sometimes it's money.  But everything that's involved in the conflict is included in what we're going to refer to as the Wildfire.  And Wildfires can be destructive.  They can destroy relationships.  They can destroy marriages, and destroy families.  They can destroy businesses.  They can destroy communities, and they can even destroy nations. 

We live in a world and a time of tremendous conflict.  Everywhere you look.  Just turn on the TV, pick up a newspaper.  Go online and look at a website.  Read a news article and read the comments below and you'll see conflict, people arguing, people fighting, people killing.  That's a mission field for every one of us. 

Every conflict that the Lord permits to happen in your life is a mission field.  And I hope that by the end of this course you grasp that statement with some intensity.  So yes, the Lord has put me in a place where He wants to use me and wants to change me.  And I'm His ambassador of reconciliation.  I'm His ambassador of peace and every relationship I am His ambassador.  It's a powerful way to live and trials and tribulations that create Wildfires, they’re part of the Christian life. 

In Acts 14:21-22 we read, “they,” being Paul and Barnabas, “preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples.  Then they returned to Llystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith and saying we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”  That word hardships is also translated tribulations, trials, troubles. Troubles, trials, tribulations, conflicts are part of the Christian life. 

So our goal isn't to avoid conflict.  It's certainly not to create conflict, but we also don't want to avoid conflict, because in that conflict in those Wildfires are tremendous opportunities that we'll be discussing. 

Now most people want to pursue a desired outcome in conflict and last time we talked about this lantern.  We want to pursue that desired outcome in a conflict, think about the conflicts you're facing right now.  You probably have a desired outcome for that situation. And I'm not telling you at all that that's unusual or that it's wrong, or that you shouldn't have a desired outcome.  But pursuing that desired outcome is what we want to talk about.  Because in the Wildfire, that's what we're going to focus on. 

When we are in the Wildfire and the Wildfire has our focus, we're going to be looking for our desired outcome and we will do anything we need to do to get it, to achieve it, to reach it, to attain it.  And in doing that time after time, in every conflict that we face, we start to develop habits.  So you have habits in your life for responding to conflict.  Maybe there are habits that you have developed intentionally or probably like most people, you have developed habits just over time without really thinking about them, but you found a way that works for you, a way to get what you want.  And maybe it's the lantern, or maybe getting what you want is just your peace back.  Maybe you found a way to keep the fires down.  

Some people do that by avoiding conflict, running from it.  Some develop the habit of fighting, of battling, arguing, using their power to dominate so that they can get the land  But whatever your habits are, they're typically not grounded in God's Word, because the church, over our recent generations hasn't done a great job of talking about conflict.  We've accommodated in many ways, and lost our leverage of love.  We've lost the leverage of love in our culture, in our communities and our neighborhoods, and in our nation.  But we still have that opportunity. 

And so whatever habits you have developed in responding to conflict, I want you to put those before the Lord and say, Lord have whatever I have here that doesn't look like Jesus Christ, I give you permission to change and make me more like you.  And in the time we spend together in these lectures, I will repeatedly ask you to do that because the Lord is doing some mighty work in your life.  He's begun to work in you and He is going to continue that work until He comes again, until you see Him face to face.  So rather than be surprised about the tribulations about the conflicts that we face in our lives, Jesus says something to us very different. 

In 1 Peter, I'm sorry, Peter writes to us through the Lord's word, in 1Peter 4:12. Peter writes, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  Trials and tribulations are part of the Christian life.” And the Lord says to us to John 16:33, I've told you these things, so that in me, you may have peace.  In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.” 

That's the peace that we're after in this course, that we will have peace, even in the midst of trouble, in the midst of conflict, and we will be overcomers because our Lord is the overcomer.  That's the Wildfire. All of that, dynamics that exist in conflict, the people, the emotion, the circumstances, the property.  Everything that's at stake. 

Next session we're going to talk about the second fire of conflict the Peacefire.  God bless you we'll see you then.